Charlotte, NC-headquartered Bank of America has logged a strong set of group results in its latest earnings release, although net income at its global wealth and investment management unit decreased year-on-year and sequentially.

Bank of America has reported a 13 per cent year-on-year decline in net income at its global wealth and investment management arm, while group net income rose 9 per cent to $3.3 billion.

BoA's 2015 results were the bank's highest earnings in nearly a decade, said Brian Moynihan, chief executive. “We saw solid customer activity in loan growth, deposits, and wealth management asset flows, and we returned more capital to our shareholders,” Moynihan said.

The group's provision for credit losses was $0.8 billion at the end of December 2015 - the same as $0.8 billion in the previous quarter and up from $0.2 billion a year ago.

Revenue in Q4 2015 rose by about 4 per cent year-on-year to $19.8 billion.

GWIM

Net income at BoA's GWIM arm was $614 million for the final quarter of 2015, down from $656 million in the previous quarter and $705 million a year ago.

Revenue slipped from $4.6 billion in Q4 2014 to $4.4 billion at end-December 2015.

Among other highlights at the division, asset management fees of $2.05 billion “remain near record levels,” BoA said, down 1 per cent from Q4 2014. Full-year asset management fees were up 5 per cent year-on-year from $7.96 billion in 2014 to $8.35 billion in 2015.

The company also logged strong growth in the number of wealth advisors, it said, up by 695 (5 per cent) since the start of the year, excluding consumer advisors.

Meanwhile, referrals from Merrill Lynch and US Trust to other lines of business across the enterprise have risen by 54 per cent as advisors increasingly leverage the company’s full capabilities to meet the needs of their clients, BoA said.