JPMorgan Chase paid out $1.1bn (£722m) in legal costs in the fourth quarter of 2014, the bank's latest earnings release has revealed.

The payout put a significant dent in net income, which totalled $4.9bn (£3.2bn) for the quarter, down from $5.3bn (£3.5bn) for the same period in 2013, when legal costs stood at $847m (£555m).

Last November JPMorgan announced that it had reached a $13bn (£8.5bn) settlement with US authorities for misleading investors over mortgage-backed securities during the housing crisis, while the same month, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority fined the bank £222m for "failing to control businesses in their foreign exchange trading operations".

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Slaughter and May are among law firms known to have been advising JPMorgan, while other firms to have acted for the bank in recent years include Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Allen & Overy.

Over the three months to December, total revenue was $23.6bn (£15.5bn), down 2% on the previous year. The bank said it still maintained a "fortress balance sheet" last quarter, with growth in earnings per share of $1.19 to $1.30.

The bank has blamed legal costs for poor financial performance in the past. In the third quarter of 2013, the $9.2bn (£6bn) bill it incurred – chiefly relating to a settlement with US authorities over allegations it mis-sold mortgage securities – resulted in a $400m (£262m) quarterly loss.

JPMorgan is not the only bank to have faced soaring legal bills in the face of ongoing investigations into foreign exchange market manipulations.

In the third quarter last year, Royal Bank of Scotland set aside a total of £780m to cover legal and conduct costs, while Citigroup upped its legal spend by around $600m (£376m) and Barclays took £500m out of its third quarter profits to cover potential currency market rigging fines.