Earnings On The Way: Which Big Bank Will Shine This Time?

The nation's banks are ready to report first quarter earnings as JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo Wells Fargo lead the way on Friday.

The story around big banks has been similar over the last several quarters as they all face revenue growth problems, loan demand struggles, expenses, legal troubles, regulatory and capital issues.

JPMorgan will report early Friday morning and many are expecting the New York bank to report a drop in earnings compared to last year. Analysts estimate JPM will report earnings per share of $1.41 compared to last year's quarter when the bank reported $1.59 per share.

Investors might remember back in February, head of JPM's corporate and investment bank, David Pinto told investors that capital markets revenue would likely be down 15% from last year.

JPM is just off a big year in 2013 after paying a record $13 billion in a settlement with the Department of Justice over its mortgage securities. Revenue for 2013 hit $96.6 billion, a slight drop from the prior year, while net income dropped 16% to $17.9 billion. It's trying to recover from the big legal and regulatory hits it took last year. In the fourth quarter, JPM recorded an $800 million legal expense and investors are hoping to see that come down.

The other big news many will be paying attention to during the earnings call with CEO Jamie Dimon is the bank's so-called brain drain. In the last few weeks, investment bank co-chief Mike Cavanagh and senior investment-bank manager Blythe Masters announced their departures from the bank. Cavanagh was seen as contender for CEO once Dimon's time came to an end.

JPM has been faced with a number of executive exits over the last several quarters including that of Jes Staley, the man who ran the investment bank before Cavanagh.

Then of course, there was Ina Drew's departure. Drew was in charge of the department that was responsible for the London Whale mess.

Wells Fargo, which reports shortly after JPM Friday morning, is also fresh off executive moves at the top–albeit not as dire as JPM's.

The nation's fourth largest bank will likely discuss CFO Tim Sloan's move to head Wholesale Banking. The CFO role will be filled by John Shrewsberry who currently heads Wells Fargo Securities. Wells chief John Stumpf is known to round out his team's experience by actively rotates them among the bank's crucial departments.