Bank of America said on Wednesday that its revenues slipped by about 2 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier, making similar noises about softer investment-banking activities as JPMorgan Chase, which also reported a fall, after adjusting for one-time effects. At Wells Fargo, the world’s biggest bank by market capitalisation, underlying revenues were down about 1 per cent from a year earlier, according to CLSA estimates.
Just a day and a half into the third-quarter reporting season for the US banks, analysts said, the trend was clear: strong balance sheets, weak income statements. Seven years on from the most intense phase of the financial crisis, the biggest lenders have all built capital and improved liquidity, increasing their chances of surviving more Lehman-like scares.
But growth in core revenues — and thus profits — remains hard to come by. Retail divisions are facing patchy...
