April 16 (UPI) — Bank of America on Monday reported a $6.9 billion profit for the first three months of 2018 — the greatest quarterly net in its history, officials said.
“Strong client activity, coupled with a growing global economy and solid U.S. consumer activity, led to record quarterly earnings,” said Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan in Monday’s release.
The record earnings resulted partly due to President Donald Trump‘s tax reform.
The bank said its net income was up 30 percent, to a record $6.9 billion — but the income tax expense was about $1.5 billion, down 26 percent from last year.
Without the benefit of the tax law, this year’s gains would not have been so great since pretax income only rose 15 percent and revenue 4 percent.
In December, the Tax Act was enacted, lowering the the U.S. corporate tax rate. The new rate for the first quarter is 21 percent — compared to 35 percent, previously.
The record haul for the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank was higher than Wall Street forecast predicted.
Most financial analysts predicted the bank’s earnings to be around $6.3 billion.
Bank of America also said Monday it will open 500 new branches and expand into new market locations in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, Lexington, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City.
Other banks also hauled in large earnings this year. JP Morgan Chase — the United States’ largest bank — reported a profit of $8.7 billion; Citigroup disclosed $4.6 billion in earnings.
JP Morgan Chase’s profit, reported last week, was the largest of any U.S. bank in history, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
