CHARLOTTE — Bank of America’s third-quarter profit fell 17% to $6.9 billion after a $1.2 billion regulatory charge, while weaker trading and investment-banking revenue pressured results at the Charlotte-headquartered bank.
The company reported diluted earnings of 91 cents a share for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with net income of $8.3 billion, or $1.04 a share, a year earlier. Revenue, net of interest expense, increased 3% to $30.0 billion from $29.0 billion.
The $1.2 billion charge, tied to regulatory penalties over failures to detect and report potential money-laundering activity, reduced quarterly earnings by about 17 cents a share. Reuters reported that regulators also placed the bank under a consent order requiring work with a third party to identify and report suspicious transactions that had gone undetected.
Capital-markets businesses added pressure. Sales and trading revenue fell 5% to $5.1 billion, including a 17% decline in fixed-income, currencies and commodities trading. Investment-banking fees declined 11% to $1.8 billion. Net interest income, however, increased 8% as loan and deposit balances grew and fixed-rate assets repriced.
The result is significant for North Carolina because Bank of America is headquartered in Charlotte and is one of the state’s largest publicly traded companies. The size of the charge and the continuing consent-order work create financial, compliance and reputational consequences, even though the company did not announce a North Carolina employment change with the results.
Bank of America released the quarter’s results before the market opened Wednesday. Its earnings materials show total loans and leases of $1.25 trillion and deposits of $2.04 trillion at Sept. 30, both higher than a year earlier.