Citi and Bank of America struggling to revive
Meanwhile measure the effects of the broad financial reform approved by Congress, the giants of Wall Street continued their slow recovery. Citigroup, which had managed to exit the first quarter of 2010 after losing a total of $ 29 billion between 2008 and 2009, has confirmed his return to profits between March and June The third U.S. lender has reported net earnings of $ 2.7 billion, down 37% over a year. For its part, Bank of America, the first U.S. retail bank, posted net income of $ 3.1 billion, a slight decrease of 4%. The day before, JPMorgan had announced a profit of 4.8 billion, up 76%.
If the performance of these three giants of Wall Street have exceeded the expectations of financial analysts, they are far from convincing.The banks, in effect, save their profits fall in provisions for doubtful debts, which remain however very high levels. At Citigroup, they have a charge of $ 6.7 billion, the lowest in almost three years. For Bank of America, the drain $ 8.1 billion against $ 9.8 billion in the first quarter and still $ 16.4 billion a year ago credit reports free.
Less capital raising
More than three years after the start of the crisis in the housing, the improvement of conditions in the shy USA relieves borrowers. But business remains sluggish, as evidenced by the decrease in revenues of large banks: – 33% for Citigroup – 18% for Bank of America – 7% for JPMorgan. The great challenge for these players is to reach boost their sales."It will be several more quarters to see a sustainable activity," warns Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America.
Last year, the Wall Street banks had managed to offset the gloom with an exceptional year in the investment bank, with capital raising records. Alas, this windfall is gone and instead the second quarter under the sign of the crisis of European sovereign countries was characterized by high volatility and lower risk appetite. This scenario weighs on commissions and revenue from emissions trading.