BofA profit up on higher interest income, surprise investment banking gain

Bank of America's profit rose in the third quarter as it joined rivals in earning more from interest payments by its customers, while investment banking and trading fared better than expected.

The second-largest U.S. bank on Tuesday posted net income of $7.27 billion, or 91 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30. It rose from $6.58 billion, or 81 cents per share, a year earlier.
 

BofA's investment banking and trading units managed to outperform Wall Street expectations as they reported higher revenue, bucking an industry-wide slump.
 

Meanwhile, lenders have seen their interest income swell as they had more room to charge customers higher rates on loans after the Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs in its fight against inflation.
 

Bank of America's net interest income (NII) rose 4% in the third quarter to $14.4 billion.
 

Lending giants JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo also reported a surge in NII on Friday and raised their forecasts for the key metric.
 

Interest income across the sector has also been supported by Americans who have healthy household finances and continue to spend money using their credit cards despite a looming economic slowdown.