Trading windfall and record NII raise fresh stakes for housing finance
Bank of America ended 2025 with its strongest results in four years, as trading and rising net interest income powered a 12% jump in quarterly profit to $7.6 billion, or $0.98 per share, on revenue of $28.4 billion, up 7% from a year earlier.
The performance arrived just as the Federal Reserve’s late‑2025 rate cuts and easing funding costs began to filter through to lenders’ balance sheets and borrowers’ pricing.
Behind the headline numbers, the bank’s engines of credit creation were still running hot. Average loans and leases climbed 8% year‑over‑year to $1.17 trillion, with growth in every business line, while average deposits reached $2.01 trillion, up 3%.
Net interest income – the spread between what the bank earned on loans and securities and what it paid on deposits – rose roughly 10% to about $15.8 billion in the quarter, with management projecting 5–7% NII growth for 2026, a target that remained subject to rate and credit conditions.
“Bank of America’s fourth quarter results capped off a strong year of earnings as we delivered more than $30 billion in net income and EPS grew 19% over 2024,” chief executive Brian Moynihan, said.
“With consumers and businesses proving resilient, as well as the regulatory environment and tax and trade policies coming into sharper focus, we expect further economic growth in the year ahead.”
“While any number of risks continue, we are bullish on the U.S. economy in 2026,” Moynihan said.
He added that “with their dedication and the economy positioned for growth, we feel confident in our ability to maintain this momentum in 2026 and beyond.”
Those comments came as peers also struck an upbeat tone: JPMorgan’s traders helped that bank beat fourth‑quarter earnings forecasts, while Wells Fargo and Citigroup pointed to higher return‑on‑equity targets even as restructuring and severance costs weighed on results.
Inside Bank of America’s consumer bank, fourth‑quarter net income rose to $3.3 billion on revenue of $11.2 billion, up 5% from a year earlier, helped by higher NII and still‑solid card spending.
Average consumer loans reached $323 billion, while digital engagement continued to deepen, with 4.3 billion digital logins in the quarter and 69% of sales completed through digital channels.
Mortgage professionals watching that capital deployment are likely to weigh both the upside and the constraints.
On the one hand, stronger NII and trading revenue could support more competitive pricing, expanded warehouse and HELOC capacity, and continued investment in digital origination.
On the other, BofA’s guidance for further NII growth and its bullish macro view remain forecasts rather than guarantees, sensitive to credit losses, regulatory change and any renewed spike in funding costs.
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