Bank of America profits rise 28%, wage expenses up too
ABC News
Bank of America says its profits rose 28% last quarter from a year earlier, but the bank faced the same wage inflation as its Wall Street counterparts
NEW YORK -- Bank of America said its profits rose 28% last quarter from a year earlier, but the bank faced the same wage inflation as its Wall Street counterparts.
The bank said Wednesday that it earned a profit of $7.01 billion, or 82 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. That's up from a profit of $5.47 billion, or 59 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting the bank to post a profit of 77 cents a share.
The bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, saw most of its businesses grow profits in the quarter. But much of the growth was in BofA's investment banking division, which saw profits climb to $2.68 billion from $1.67 billion. Other banks with investment banking businesses saw a strong end to the year, as companies scrambled to close deals or go public.
BofA also got a one-time boost from a release of $851 million in loan-loss reserves last quarter. These reserves are money that banks set aside to cover potentially bad loans during the early part of the pandemic, and most banks have been steadily releasing those funds.
