SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg) — The year-old US recession will linger for at least two additional quarters and unemployment may rise to the highest rate in a quarter century, JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer Jamie Dimon said yesterday.

Dimon, 52, speaking at a health-care conference in San Francisco, said the financial system collapsed in September. He said his New York-based bank's earnings have been "terrible".

"The system went into cardiac arrest," Dimon said, citing the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Banks and brokers in the Americas have taken $437.8 billion in writedowns, losses and credit provisions since the start of the financial crisis. The unemployment rate climbed to a 15-year high of 7.2 percent in December, more than analysts estimated. Dimon said yesterday unemployment could possibly rise to more than 10 percent, the highest since June 1983, leading to further stress on banks that lend to consumers.

JPMorgan, the second-largest US bank by assets, is expected to earn three cents a share in the fourth quarter, based on the average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That compares with estimates for a per-share loss of 90 cents at rival Citigroup Inc. and a profit of 19 cents at Bank of America Corp., Bloomberg data show.

The bank continues to expand its business during the economic slowdown, Dimon said, pointing to the $100 billion the firm has lent "in the last few months".

JPMorgan moved up its earnings announcement to January 15 from January 21, the company said in a separate announcement.

Also in his speech, Dimon urged health-care coverage for all Americans and said the current US system made some companies uncompetitive in a global economy. He said reform could expand on the current employer-provided system to ensure that workers retain their current benefits and that corporations would still bear a part of the cost.