Bank of America registers a 12% drop in quarterly profits

United States' second-biggest bank, Bank of America registered a 12% decline in first-quarter profits from a year earlier. However, this decline was much less than the losses its rivals suffered. Higher net interest income and no noticeable exposure to Russian assets, assisted Bank of America in reducing its losses. North Carolina-based bank, The Charlotte, informed that it registered a profit of $7.1 billion, or 80 cents a share, compared with a profit of $8.05 billion, or 86 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. According to FactSet, the results were better than what analysts had predicted earlier.

While BofA's profits decreased like the other big Wall Street banks in this quarter, their results were assisted by some factors that helped the bank perform better than its rivals in this quarter. Bank of America's net interest income increase 13% in the quarter, amounting to roughly $1.4 billion. BofA's balance sheet is more skewed to bonds with shorter maturities, so short-term moves in interest rates tend to quickly impact the bank's bottom line. The bank did not have to set aside much funds this quarter to cover potential losses as well, in contrast to JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, who had to set aside money to cover the risk of a recession as well as for their exposures to Kremlin.