* JPMorgan sells $2.5 billion in five-year notes

* American Express sells $3 billion in 5- and 10-yr notes

* Non-guaranteed 5-yr debt precondition to repay TARP (Adds details)

By John Parry

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - In a sign that the two-year-old global credit crisis may be on its way to easing, a growing list of U.S. financial institutions are now able to sell their own bonds without government backing, as two debt issues underscored on Wednesday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which bond analysts view as one of the big U.S. banks that may ultimately be able to operate independently of the government, sold a $2.5 billion issue of five-year notes.

"It is a signal the credit markets are in the process of repairing themselves," said Sean Simko, a fixed-income portfolio manager with investment management company SEI in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

"Any time a financial institution that once had to rely heavily on a government guarantee can come to market without it, (that) is a positive," he said.

Regulators have said selling debt with a five-year term or greater was a key condition of being permitted to repay funds from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program.