NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has put its life insurance and annuity operations up for sale, a source familiar with the matter said on Saturday, in the latest move by the No. 3 U.S. bank to shed a smaller noncore business.

JPMorgan, which last year bought Chicago-based rival Bank One Corp. for $58 billion, owns a U.S. life insurance and annuity business that Bank One bought from Zurich Financial Services Group in 2003 for $500 million, in addition to its own small operation.

Earlier this year, Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) scaled down its attempt to create a financial supermarket when it sold its Travelers Life insurance business to MetLife Inc. for $11.8 billion.

JPMorgan insurance unit is far smaller than Citigroup's and earned $18 million in the third quarter, down $2 million from the prior year, on net revenue of $158 million.

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