In the fourth quarter, investment bank revenues at JPMorgan Chase fell 30 percent to $4.36 billion. Meanwhile, the card services and auto loans units saw revenue decline 5 percent to $4.8 billion.

Does it mean anything that the card services and auto loans unit is now a bigger revenue generator than the vaunted investment banking unit? It certainly shows that the investment bank is likely losing stature as a big producer within the company. The biggest revenue producer a year ago was the retail financial services unit, which has been hit hard. But it remains the number one contributor to revenue by far.

What can we take away from this? Well, it’s certainly nice to be diversified. And even though the retail sector has been troubled, JPMorgan’s retail operations have fared relatively well, certainly compared with the likes of Bank of America.This has cushioned the blow from tough times in investment banking and trading. Longer-term, one has to wonder what this does to the culture of the company.

This is how Deal Journal puts it: “Once upon a time, the house of J.P. Morgan was divided into two equal parts–Wall Street and Main Street. Occupy or not, the latter is taking over.”

My sense is that “taking over” is a bit strong. But perhaps a case could be made that the retail side deserves more of the internal investment dollars than before. The great divide at some banks may no longer be investment banker vs. trader but rather consumer banker vs. investment banker/traders.

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