美銀利潤向好提振華爾街希望

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.

美國銀行(BoA)報告了金融危機以來最高的季度稅前利潤，這令人希望美國銀行業能夠在寬鬆貨幣時代結束之前就提高回報率。

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.

這家按資產規模算美國第二大銀行昨日披露，華爾街交易的提振以及控制成本的努力，幫助抵消了低利率造成的壓力。

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

同競爭對手摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)、花旗集團(Citigroup)一樣，美銀的債券交易也出現了復甦。

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.

英國退歐公投和快速變化的貨幣政策前景促使客戶尋求重新定位，由此帶來的大量交易指令使得美銀的債券交易收入大漲三分之一。

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

與業內同行一樣，美銀的零售銀行業務表現一般。

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

雖然全球市場淨利潤反彈34%，但消費者銀行業務僅上漲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，與兩大競爭對手不同的是，美國銀行仍設法提振了6月至9月間的總體淨利潤——比一年前提高7%，至49.6億美元。

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

美銀董事長兼首席執行官賴恩•莫伊尼漢(Brian Moynihan)稱：在美銀，我們不會等待加息。

We’re driving our earnings growth now.

我們現在就在推動利潤增長。

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

對美銀而言，巨大的挑戰依然存在。作爲行業巨擘，美銀擁有4600多家分行、2.2萬億美元資產。

Its results show the industry is hardly booming again.

美銀的業績表明，銀行業很難說已經再現繁榮。

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.

超低利率在全球範圍內擠壓着銀行和保險公司的利潤，但外界認爲美銀屬於受影響最大的銀行之列，部分原因在於其巨大的零售業務規模。

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

由於富國銀行(Wells Fargo)分行員工存在的欺詐行爲，美國銀行業還面臨審查。

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

首席財務官保羅•多諾里奧(Paul Donofrio)表示，美銀已經加倍努力，確保優良治理和風險控制。

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.

他說：到目前爲止，我們還沒有發現需要擔憂的任何問題，並補充道，根據數據提供商Coalition的數據，該行已成爲世界上第四大投資銀行，而且搶佔了競爭對手的市場份額。

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

他並未評論德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)的艱難處境，但他表示：搶佔份額分佈在多個地區和多家公司。

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.

奧本海默公司(Oppenheimer)分析師克里斯•科托夫斯基(Chris Kotowski)稱：經過多年因罰款、訴訟及其他意外導致的糟糕業績，美銀終於走上正軌。

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師預估的0.34美元，但該行股價仍小幅下降。

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

瑞銀(UBS)分析師布倫南•霍肯(Brennan Hawken)表示：預期終於被降到了足夠低。

Is it anything better than good? No.

有什麼數據比‘不錯’更好嗎？沒有。

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.

顯然，如果能得到加息的一點幫助，我們將能夠再快一些提高回報，但我們並沒指望於此，首席財務官多諾里奧說。