The company gave the description of the talks in a quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. A Justice spokesman acknowledged that the department has an "active, ongoing investigation," but declined to comment further.

JPMorgan also estimated its "reasonably possible" legal expenses, in excess of its litigation reserves, at $5.5 billion as of the end of March, down from $5.8 billion at the end of December.

(Reporting by David Henry in New York and Lindsay Dunsmuir in Washington.)