Bank of America profit jumps 63% in second quarter

NEW YORK -- Bank of America Corp.’s profit jumped 63% in the second quarter as the financial giant continued to cut costs and struggled to clean up its troubled mortgage business.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said it earned $4 billion, or 32 cents a share, in net income in the second quarter, up from $2.5 billion, or 19 cents, in the same period a year ago. Revenue increased 3.5% to $22.7 billion.

The results beat analysts’ expectations of per-share earnings of 25 cents, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Boosting the bank’s performance was improved income from trading, investment banking, wealth management and lending.

“We are doing more business with our customers and clients, and gaining momentum across every customer group we serve,” Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said in a statement. “We must keep improving, but with the consumer recovering and businesses strong, we have lots of opportunity ahead.”

Cost-cutting also helped. Bank of America booked $471 million in litigation expenses in the second quarter, down sharply from $963 million in the same period last year.

The number of full-time employees declined 7%, from 275,460 at the end of the second quarter of 2012 to 257,158 as of June 30.

BofA has been trying to churn out more profit by pruning business segments, cutting costs and cleaning up its troubled mortgage business.

Still, the bank’s consumer real estate services segment was a drag in the second quarter. The segment’s net loss widened to $937 million, compared with a loss of $744 million in the same period a year ago.

BAC data by YCharts

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