美银利润向好提振华尔街希望

Bank of America has produced its highest quarterly pre-tax profits since the financial crisis, spurring hopes that the banking industry can improve returns without waiting for an end to the era of easy money.

美国银行(BoA)报告了金融危机以来最高的季度税前利润，这令人希望美国银行业能够在宽松货币时代结束之前就提高回报率。

A boost from Wall Street trading and efforts to curb costs helped offset pressures caused by low interest rates, the second-biggest US bank by assets disclosed yesterday.

这家按资产规模算美国第二大银行昨日披露，华尔街交易的提振以及控制成本的努力，帮助抵消了低利率造成的压力。

The bank echoed rivals JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup with a resurgence in bond trading.

同竞争对手摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)、花旗集团(Citigroup)一样，美银的债券交易也出现了复苏。

Revenues there surged a third, helped by a flood of orders as clients sought to reposition following the UK’s vote for Brexit and the fast-changing outlook for monetary policy.

英国退欧公投和快速变化的货币政策前景促使客户寻求重新定位，由此带来的大量交易指令使得美银的债券交易收入大涨三分之一。

Like its peers, the bank’s Main Street businesses fared less well.

与业内同行一样，美银的零售银行业务表现一般。

While global markets net income rebounded 34 per cent, consumer banking ticked up only 3 per cent.

虽然全球市场净利润反弹34%，但消费者银行业务仅上涨3%。

Unlike its two big rivals, however, BofA still managed to boost overall net income between June and September — up 7 per cent from a year ago to $4.96bn.

然而，与两大竞争对手不同的是，美国银行仍设法提振了6月至9月间的总体净利润——比一年前提高7%，至49.6亿美元。

Brian Moynihan, chairman and chief executive, said: We aren’t waiting for interest rates to rise here at Bank of America.

美银董事长兼首席执行官赖恩•莫伊尼汉(Brian Moynihan)称：在美银，我们不会等待加息。

We’re driving our earnings growth now.

我们现在就在推动利润增长。

Big challenges remain for BofA, an industry powerhouse that operates more than 4,600 branches and has $2.2tn in assets.

对美银而言，巨大的挑战依然存在。作为行业巨擘，美银拥有4600多家分行、2.2万亿美元资产。

Its results show the industry is hardly booming again.

美银的业绩表明，银行业很难说已经再现繁荣。

Ultra-low rates are squeezing banks and insurers globally, but BofA is regarded as among the most exposed partly because of the scale of its retail powerhouse.

超低利率在全球范围内挤压着银行和保险公司的利润，但外界认为美银属于受影响最大的银行之列，部分原因在于其巨大的零售业务规模。

The industry is also facing scrutiny over fraudulent practices by branch workers at Wells Fargo.

由于富国银行(Wells Fargo)分行员工存在的欺诈行为，美国银行业还面临审查。

Paul Donofrio, chief financial officer, said BofA had redoubled its efforts to ensure it had good governance and risk controls.

首席财务官保罗•多诺里奥(Paul Donofrio)表示，美银已经加倍努力，确保优良治理和风险控制。

So far we haven’t found anything that concerns us, he said, adding it was the fourth biggest investment bank in the world according to data provider Coalition, and had taken market share from rivals.

他说：到目前为止，我们还没有发现需要担忧的任何问题，并补充道，根据数据提供商Coalition的数据，该行已成为世界上第四大投资银行，而且抢占了竞争对手的市场份额。

Without commenting on the travails of Deutsche Bank, he said: Share was taken across a number of regions and a number of firms.

他并未评论德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)的艰难处境，但他表示：抢占份额分布在多个地区和多家公司。

After years of noisy results pockmarked by fines, litigation and other adverse surprises, Bank of America is finally hitting its stride, said Chris Kotowski, analyst at Oppenheimer.

奥本海默公司(Oppenheimer)分析师克里斯•科托夫斯基(Chris Kotowski)称：经过多年因罚款、诉讼及其他意外导致的糟糕业绩，美银终于走上正轨。

But even though earnings per share of $0.41 were comfortably ahead of analyst forecasts of $0.34, the stock ticked down in New York.

但是，即使每股0.41美元盈利大大超出分析师预估的0.34美元，但该行股价仍小幅下降。

Brennan Hawken, banking analyst at UBS, said: Expectations have finally been ratcheted low enough.

瑞银(UBS)分析师布伦南•霍肯(Brennan Hawken)表示：预期终于被降到了足够低。

Is it anything better than good? No.

有什么数据比‘不错’更好吗？没有。

Clearly we’re going to be able to grow returns a little faster if we get a little help from [rising] rates, but we’re not counting on that, said Mr Donofrio.

显然，如果能得到加息的一点帮助，我们将能够再快一些提高回报，但我们并没指望于此，首席财务官多诺里奥说。