The months of April, May and June were not good for the American big banks, but they were still decent.

This conclusion can be drawn after the investment bank Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, the second largest bank in the United States, presented their quarterly figures on Monday.

All five of America's major banks saw net profit declines of between 25 and 50 percent.

Thanks to higher income from securities trading, the changed monetary policy of the central banks and the resulting strong fluctuations in prices on the stock exchange, there were also sizeable profits.

Hanno Mussler

Editor in Business.

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Bank of America (Bofa) earnings fell slightly more than expected compared to the second quarter of 2021 to $5.9 billion from $8.9 billion.

Goldman Sachs' net income fell 47 percent to $2.8 billion, but not as much as expected.

Last Thursday, the largest bank, JP Morgan, reported a net profit of $8.6 billion and the investment bank Morgan Stanley posted a net profit of $2.4 billion.

The fifth in the league, Citigroup, reported net income of $4.5 billion on Friday and thus – although it is also a decline of around a third – performed significantly better than expected.

Bank stock prices then rose significantly, with Bank of America closing 7 percent higher on Friday.

Bofa had to “work on” against this price gain on Monday, which she managed more badly with her quarterly balance sheet.

Goldman's stock, on the other hand, gained almost 4 percent at the start of the stock market.

Goldman's securities trading business boomed in the second quarter, with earnings up 32 percent.

Rates trading, as before at Citigroup, stood out with a 55 percent increase in revenue.

It will now be exciting to see whether Deutsche Bank can come up with similar growth rates in this important business when it presents its quarterly figures on July 27th as planned.

As with its competitors, Goldman's consulting business was overshadowed by retail.

Because companies went public or made fewer acquisitions, Goldman's investment banking revenues fell 41 percent, including an 89 percent drop in equities.

Bank of America's quarterly results were mixed.

Their earnings increased by 6 percent.

Interest income, which is important for the institute from Charlotte (North Carolina), was slightly higher than expected despite a lower volume of loans.

However, fee income in investment banking fell unexpectedly sharply.

Higher risk provisions due to impending loan defaults and legal violations by employees had a significant impact on the quarterly balance sheet.

Bofa set aside $425 million for unspecified legal conflicts, including $200 million for an investigation by the regulator into which the use of private smartphones was criticized.