JPMorgan Chase and Co.’s fourth-quarter net income rose to $3.28 billion, or 74 cents a share, which included a more than quadruple increase in profits from higher investment banking revenues, compared with the same period the year before.

The second-largest U.S. bank’s net income a year earlier was $702 million, or 6 cents a share, Bloomberg reported. And its investment bank recovered from a 2008 fourth-quarter loss to post net income of $1.9 billion. Those results, according to the report, were boosted by $181 million released from credit reserves during the period.

Under the leadership of CEO Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan has turned a profit in every quarter of the economic downturn, with fee income offsetting loan losses in consumer banking and credit cards.

The company’s consumer bank posted a $399 million loss, as it allocated more cash to cover credit losses. Its credit card division, which Dimon has said is “doing really poorly,” narrowed its loss to $306 million from $371 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“While we are seeing some stability in delinquencies, consumer credit costs remain high and weak employment and home prices persist,” Dimon said in the statement. “Accordingly, we remain cautious.”

On a managed basis, net revenues were up 32 percent to $25.2 billion from $19.1 billion.

JPMorgan is the first of the biggest U.S. banks to report earnings.