Key Insight: Bank of America’s revised-up steering for web curiosity revenue comes partly because of an enhancing macroeconomic surroundings.Supporting Data: BofA’s NII steering for the fourth quarter is now $15.6 billion to $15.7 billion, up from $15.5 billion to $15.7 billion.Expert Quote: “As we have seen extra certainty now round commerce and tariffs … it is allowed our shopper base to make longer-term selections, and that is mirrored in our funding banking exercise,” mentioned CFO Alastair Borthwick.
UPDATE: This article now accommodates quotes from Bank of America’s earnings name and commentary from analysts.
After 1 / 4 that beat Wall Street’s expectations, Bank of America set its near-term sights for web curiosity revenue slightly increased.
In the quarter that ended on Sept. 30, America’s second-largest financial institution noticed its NII attain $15.2 billion, a 9% climb from the identical interval in 2024. BofA expects that development to proceed — sufficient in order that it revised its steering modestly upward.
“Given this efficiency, we count on fourth-quarter NII between $15.6 and $15.7 billion, on the increased finish of our beforehand shared steering earlier within the yr,” Alastair Borthwick, the financial institution’s chief monetary officer, mentioned throughout a name with reporters on Wednesday. The earlier steering vary had set the decrease finish at $15.5 billion.
The revision comes on the heels of a solid quarter for BofA. From July by means of September, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based financial institution reported a 23% leap in web revenue to $8.5 billion — nicely above analysts’ consensus estimate of $7.08 billion, in keeping with S&P. Earnings per share got here out to $1.06, beating forecasts of $0.95.
“Bank of America delivered a robust third quarter with good development, each within the high line income and backside line EPS, all pushed by sturdy working leverage,” CEO Brian Moynihan mentioned throughout a name with analysts.
BofA attributed the NII enchancment to a quantity of elements, together with increased mortgage and deposit balances. Average loans reached $1.15 trillion within the third quarter, up 9% from the prior yr, whereas common deposits rose to $1.99 trillion, a 9% year-over-year improve.
Another contributor: Over the course of the quarter, some of the uncertainty round U.S. commerce coverage died down, BofA’s executives mentioned. This allowed extra of the financial institution’s business shoppers to renew investing for the longer term, opening up extra lending alternatives for BofA.
“As we have seen extra certainty now round commerce and tariffs, and round taxes as nicely, it is allowed our shopper base to make longer-term selections, and that is mirrored in our funding banking exercise,” Borthwick mentioned. “So we be ok with the pipeline and the best way it is growing.”
A quantity of analysts praised the financial institution’s third-quarter efficiency as regular and dependable, if unspectacular. Glenn Schorr of Evercore ISI known as it a “clear” print. Steven Alexopoulos of TD Cowen known as it “a solid across-the-board quarter.”
Total income rose to $28.1 billion within the quarter, surpassing analysts’ forecasts of $27.46 billion and marking an 11% improve from the identical interval final yr.
One contributor to the upper income was rising price revenue. Investment banking charges rose to $2.01 billion, up 43% from the identical interval in 2024. And asset administration charges swelled to $3.97 billion, up 12% from the prior yr.
“This quarter’s outcomes present good momentum as we end 2025 and head into 2026,” Moynihan mentioned. “We have been demonstrating constant natural development for a lot of quarters.”
Organic development has been an necessary half of BofA’s enterprise technique over the previous decade. Since 2016, the financial institution has spent greater than $5 billion on its 3,600-plus department community, opening areas in new markets and renovating workplaces in current markets.
The firm has pledged to open 165 new branches by the top of 2026, together with 40 anticipated to open this yr. BofA mentioned Wednesday that it has opened 22 new branches to date in 2025, and continues to be “on observe” to achieve its objectives for this yr and subsequent yr.
“We’re investing in renovations and we’re investing in openings,” Borthwick mentioned. “The staff goes by means of it month by month, quarter by quarter, native market by native market, ensuring that we place our monetary middle property the place we predict they will be finest deployed for our clients.”
There are authorized causes for this give attention to department openings. Like different massive banks, the $2.4 trillion-asset BofA is constrained by a legislation that bars it from making financial institution acquisitions as soon as it already controls greater than 10% of the nation’s whole deposits. So it has been opening branches in sure U.S. markets, similar to Atlanta, Milwaukee, Nashville and Boise, Idaho, as a approach to develop its deposit base.
“Organic development is the fact,” Moynihan mentioned throughout BofA’s second quarter earnings name in July. “We’re persevering with that push — the ‘growth markets,’ we name them — and we’re seeing success there.”
