April 12 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase's ( JPM ) profit

rose in the first quarter as it earned more from interest

payments, the bank said on Friday.

The biggest U.S. lender's profit was $13.42 billion, or

$4.44 per share, for the three months ended March 31. That

compares with $12.62 billion, or $4.10 per share, a year

earlier.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Nupur Anand in New

York, editing by Lananh Nguyen and Anil D'Silva)