Impact of DOJ Settlements on UR and Similar Programs
 

The DOJ settlement for Chase malfeasance is half their annual earnings, and I don't think it ends criminal litigation from other parties. Other banks that screwed up in the mid-2000s face similar DOJ settlements.

Does anyone think the banks' straightened circumstances are likely to impact points programs such as UR? If so how?

One point of clarification -
I Google the settlement at 13b and Chase's 2012 earnings at 93b, equaling closer to 13% of annual earnings.

That being said, no, I don't think this is likely to have any direct impact on Chase's points programs. I don't have access to Chase's financials, but I'm guessing that the points programs represent a tiny fraction of the overall business. No reason to change things up due to a questionable settlement.

Well, I don't know if this changes anything, but Chase's credit card division pretty much ran in the red during the entire recession.

No. The only way UR would be affected would be if JPMC as a whole went under, which is highly, highly unlikely. JPMC runs their credit card division like all their divisions, to maximize profit. If there was something they could do to make more money, they would have already done it.