JPMorgan Chase is cutting a net 4,000 jobs this year mainly from its mortgage and consumer businesses as the biggest US bank by assets starts to reduce expenses by $1bn.

Despite the cuts, the bank is confident it will enjoy a record-breaking year, beating analysts’ expectations of $21.1bn in net income and laying to rest the $6bn in trading losses racked up by a London-based trader nicknamed “the Whale” for his outsized position in credit derivatives.

JPMorgan yesterday said in the next two years it aimed to cut 13,000-15,000 jobs from the mortgage business, as fewer staff are needed to deal with defaults now that the US housing market is showing signs of recovery. About 3,000-4,000 staff will also be cut from the consumer business as automation replaces people. The deep reductions in the mortgage business will be offset by increases in commercial banking, private banking and asset management.