A broadly robust set of earnings figures, including from the wealth and private banking side, saw shares rise yesterday at the US-headquartered bank.

The global wealth and investment management arm of Bank of America has reported a rise in net income to $1.265 billion in the third quarter of this year from $1.06 billion a year ago. Sequentially, it also rose from $993 million in the second quarter of 2025.

Revenues rose to $6.312 billion from $5.762 billion a year before, the Charlotte, North Carolina-headquartered group said in a statement yesterday. 

Noninterest costs at the GWIM business rose to $4.622 billion from $4.340 billion.

Total client balances were $4.641 trillion at the end of September, up from $4.193 trillion 12 months before. Assets under management flows rose to £23.5 billion in Q3 2025 from $21.3 billion a year before.

Private bank
Within the private banking arm, client balances stood at $745 billion; AuM balances were $447 billion. About 460 net new relationships were added in the quarter, composed of clients with $3 million or more in wealth each. 

As is customary, Bank of America detailed how clients engage digitally: About 93 per cent of private bank clients are digitally active and 76 per cent of private bank core relationships are active on mobile. Some 58 per cent of eligible investment and trust accounts are opened through digital onboarding, it said. 

Wealth
At Merrill Wealth Management, it had $3.9 trillion of client balances and $1.7 trillion of AuM balances. About 4,500 net new households were added in the quarter. It said 85 per cent of clients in this segment are digitally active.

Group results
At the overall group level, Bank of America reported $8.5 billion of net income, up from $6.9 billion; revenues, net of interest expense, was $28.1 billion, rising 11 per cent. Reports said the earnings figures came at the top end of forecasts, helping to push shares up about 5 per cent after figures came out. Shares in BoA have risen about 18 per cent since the start of 2025; by comparison, JP Morgan’s have risen 28 per cent; Wells Fargo’s have gone up by 22.3 per cent and Goldman Sachs’ prices are up 47.5 per cent. 

The bank said its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a measure of capital buffer – was 11.6 per cent at the end of September. During the reporting period, BoA returned $7.4 billion to shareholders and hiked the quarterly common stock dividend by 8 per cent. The efficiency ratio was 62 per cent, showing an improvement in margins. Return on average tangible common shareholders’ equity was 15.4 per cent.

“With continued organic growth, every line of business reported top and bottom-line improvements,” Brian Moynihan, chair and CEO, said.