Bank of America Corp. said Thursday that her earnings doubled in the first three months of the year.
The Charlotte, NC-based lender posted a profit of $ 8.05 billion in the first quarter. That compared to $ 4.01 billion a year earlier, when banks took a big hit to their revenues to begin building reserves for rainy days at the start of the pandemic.
The bank earned 86 cents a share, beating the 66 cents predicted in a FactSet analyst survey.
The earnings of the largest banks reflected heightened optimism about an economic recovery. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday that they both released money they put away last year to cover widespread loan defaults.
Bank of America said it released $ 2.7 billion of its reserves, boosting net income. Write-offs were lower than a year earlier.