As has been the case at other banks, shifts in provisions for expected credit losses have affected headline results. Noninterest costs rose as a result of investments in people and technology.

The global wealth and investment management arm of Bank of America today said it chalked up net income of $917 million for the three months to March 31, slipping from $1.134 billion a year earlier, and down also from $1.2 billion in the previous quarter. 

Noninterest costs rose to $4.067 billion from $4.015 billion. There was a $25 million provision for credit losses in Q1 2023, against a net release a year ago of $41 billion. As seen in a number of other banks’ results, swings from net releases to credit loss provisions have affected net income results.

BoA said its noninterest cost increase of 1 per cent was caused by investment into the business, including strategic hiring and technology. 

Total revenue for the quarter in GWIM was $5.315 billion, down from $3.476 billion. 

Within Bank of America Private Bank, client balances stood at $569 billion, and assets under management balances were $331 billion. The bank logged a record 975 in net new relationships, up 17 per cent on a year before. At Merrill Wealth Management, there were $3 trillion of client balances, and $1.1 trillion of AuM balances. A record 13,600 net new households were added. Across the whole wealth businesses, total client deposits declined to $3.521 trillion in Q1 from $3.713 trillion a year ago. The GWIM business had a pre-tax margin of 23 per cent, narrowing from 27 per cent a year earlier.

Across the whole of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based group, net income was $8.2 billion, rising 15 per cent. Revenues, net of interest expense, rose 13 per cent to $26.3 billion in Q1. The bank had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 11.4 per cent. At end Q1, deposit balances fell 1 per cent to $1.9 trillion from the previous quarter. Average deposits fell 7 per cent.