Bank of America profit rises in first quarter thanks to trading income

Published: 2026-04-15 13:16:09 ET BAC

Published on 04/15/2026 at 01:16 pm EDT

Key takeaways

Like last year, Bank of America beat Wall Street expectations for both profit and revenue in the first quarter, thanks to strong performances in equities trading and investment banking. The bank reported a 17 per cent increase in net profit to 8.6 billion dollars (7.3 billion euros), equivalent to earnings per share of 1.11 dollars (0.94 euros), the highest in nearly two decades.

Key performance drivers

Revenue rose by 7.2 per cent to 30.43 billion dollars (25.81 billion euros), driven by growth in net interest income, trading revenue and fees from investment banking and wealth management. Equities trading played an important role in beating estimates, as geopolitical uncertainty led to increased volatility in the stock market.

Revenue in this segment rose by 30 per cent to 2.83 billion dollars (2.40 billion euros), beating the StreetAccount forecast by around 350 million dollars (297 million euros), contributing to the bank’s best quarter for trading activities in 15 years.

Investment banking performance beats expectations

Investment banking also outperformed expectations, with a 21 per cent increase to 1.8 billion dollars (1.5 billion euros), compared with the StreetAccount consensus estimate of 1.73 billion dollars (1.46 billion euros). Net interest income, a key measure of the profitability of lending activities, rose by 9 per cent to 15.9 billion dollars (13.4 billion euros), surpassing the StreetAccount forecast of 15.67 billion dollars (13.29 billion euros). This growth is due to higher loan and deposit balances, adjustments to the pricing of fixed income assets and market activity.

Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, praised the resilience of the US economy and pointed to “healthy customer activity”, including strong consumer spending and stable asset quality. Despite a 1.3 billion dollar (1.1 billion euro) provision for credit losses, Moynihan acknowledged that there is ongoing vigilance regarding evolving risks.

Mixed performance

Although fixed income revenue fell short of expectations, at around 3.5 billion dollars (2.9 billion euros) and roughly 330 million dollars (279 million euros) below the StreetAccount estimate, both the consumer banking and global wealth management divisions recorded substantial net profit growth of more than 20 per cent. The bank also achieved a return on tangible common equity of 16 per cent, representing an improvement of more than 200 basis points. (fc)

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