Net income at Bank of America's wealth and investment management arm shot up by 8 per cent year-on-year, although revenue was down slightly.

Net income at Bank of America's global wealth and investment management unit rose 8 per cent year-on-year to $722 million at end-June 2016, but slipped from $724 million in the previous quarter.

While revenue of $4.5 billion for the quarter was consistent with that of Q1 2016, it was down slightly (by 2 per cent) compared to the same period a year ago, as “strong net interest income growth was more than offset by lower market sensitive revenue,” BoA said.

The pre-tax margin of 26 per cent was consistent with the previous quarter, and up from 23 per cent in Q2 2015, which the US-listed firm attributed to lower expenses.

Client balances of $2.4 trillion shrank by $47 billion from the previous quarter due to the transfer of some $80 billion in assets with the sale of BofA Global Capital Management, offset by higher market valuations. Excluding the sale, client balances were up quarter-on-quarter as higher market valuation levels, $10.1 billion of long-term AuM flows and loan growth more than offset tax-related deposit outflows.

In other highlights, BoA said referrals to and from GWIM business lines to other areas of the company increased 15 per cent during the first half of 2016 compared to the first half of last year.

At US Trust – “an important growth driver for GWIM and the broader enterprise” - revenue of $769 million inched up nearly 1 per cent versus the same period a year ago, the bank said.

The Charlotte, NC-headquartered bank as a whole posted $4.2 billion in net income and earnings per share of $0.36, down from $5.1 billion and $0.43 in Q2 2015. The firm reported revenues of $20.4 billion, compared to $22.0 billion a year ago.

“We had another solid quarter in a challenging environment. Our responsible growth strategy led to improved customer and client activity, and each of our four business segments reported higher earnings than the year-ago quarter. We also moved closer to our longer-term performance targets. We continued to invest in core growth areas and to manage expenses, which were down 3 per cent year-over-year to a level not seen since 2008,” said Brian Moynihan, chief executive at BoA.