Improved capital-market activity should translate into revenue growth of 10%-15%, CFO Borthwick said. — Bloomberg
New York: Bank of America Corp’s (BofA) investment-banking unit is on track to report first-quarter revenue growth of as much as 15% from a year earlier, with sales and trading flat, chief financial officer Alastair Borthwick said.
Improved capital-market activity should translate into revenue growth of 10%-15%, Borthwick said Wednesday at an RBC Capital Markets conference in New York. Bank of America’s markets unit also is looking to match what was close to a record a year ago, he said.
“We feel good about how both opened up the year,” he said.
The bank’s sales and trading revenue totalled about US$5bil in the first quarter of last year. Based on the equity-trading unit’s current “strength” and the bank’s investment in the markets business overall, revenue is expected to be “flattish” in the first three months of this year, Borthwick said.
BofA’s net interest income (NII) is tracking along previous guidance, with NII likely to dip in the second quarter then return to positive momentum in the third and fourth quarters as long as the US Federal Reserve starts to cut interest rates, Borthwick said. — Bloomberg
