BofA is investing more in high profit trading arm

Bank of America Corp. is putting more money and balance-sheet resources behind its trading business, according to Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan.

“You are seeing much more stability” in sales and trading, with back-to-back quarters of more than $1 billion in profit, Moynihan said in a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday.

That division, led by Jim DeMare, used to have more volatile earnings and posted one of its best second quarters on record, Moynihan said.

“We will keep giving them more — risk-weighted assets, balance sheet, capital and investments in technology — because that is obviously a very expensive business to run from a day-to-day basis,” Moynihan said.

The company notched its best second quarter ever for stock trading. Investment banking also beat analysts’ estimates, with fees up 28% from a year earlier on the back of a rebound in dealmaking and more debt and equity underwriting. 

Moynihan is one of the longest-serving heads of a large US bank, and has signaled his interest in staying on for years to come. He was promoted to CEO in 2010 in the wake of the global financial crisis, and steered the lender through the pandemic and last year’s turmoil in the banking industry.

Shares of the company climbed to a two-year high Tuesday, bringing this year’s gain to 31%, after the bank reported trading and investment-banking results that topped analysts’ estimates. It also gave a forecast for fourth-quarter net interest income, its biggest source of revenue, that exceeded expectations.