On January 17, Truist Financial outperformed Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter profit, benefiting from increased investment banking and trading activity with the strengthening of capital markets.
A durable economy, declining interest rates, and expectations of eased regulations under the Trump administration have fueled corporate optimism for 2024. Equity and debt issuance also saw significant growth in the latter part of the year.
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist saw its shares climb almost 3% in premarket trading on the same day.
The bank’s results are in line with those of key competitors such as , and , which also exceeded profit estimates for the quarter due to gains in investment banking.
Truist’s investment banking and trading income surged by 58.8% to $262 million in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year, though down by 21.1% from the prior quarter.
Net interest income, representing the bank's earnings on loans versus deposit payouts, increased by almost 2% to $3.64 billion.
The net interest margin, indicating lending profitability, expanded to 3.07% from 2.95% a year before.
Adjusted quarterly net income available to common shareholders reached $1.21 billion, or 91 cents per share, surpassing the estimated $1.18 billion, or 88 cents, as compiled by LSEG.
Provisions for credit losses decreased by almost 18% in the quarter.
For the fiscal year 2025, Truist anticipates a 3% to 3.5% increase in adjusted revenue compared to 2024.