Earnings call

Bank of America Corporation Bank of America Corporation · Q2 2026 call

Call heldJul 14, 2026
Time8:30 a.m. Eastern
CEOBrian Moynihan

What the CEO argued

Moynihan's argument was that this was a franchise quarter rather than a trading quarter, and that the proof was how little variation there was in it. Revenue grew 15% to $31.6 billion, net income 27% to $9.1 billion and EPS 34% to $1.21 — but the line he kept returning to was that revenue, net income, operating leverage and the efficiency ratio all improved in every single segment. He treated the 17% return on tangible common equity as having arrived ahead of schedule rather than as a peak, and set out the multi-year bridge behind it: a net interest margin marching from the 1.90%s toward 2.30%, with the lift meant to fall straight to the bottom line. Against the worry that heavy spending on technology, financial centres and AI would eat that, his answer was that the same money buys more code each year and that if revenue slows, expense growth slows with it. On the economy he was deliberately constructive — a research team raising its U.S. GDP forecast, consumer spending running above 6%, credit costs flat — while naming inflation and tighter policy as the risks, and observing that the crises people had queued up, commercial real estate and private-credit lending, simply have not surfaced.

More from Brian Moynihan

What they said

The quarter in one line
Our revenue grew 15% year-over-year to $31.6 billion. Our net income was $9.1 billion, up 27% from last year. Our EPS increased 34% to $1.21 a share.
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
Why the breadth mattered more than any single line
Revenue and net income increased in every business segment. Each segment generated operating leverage. Each segment improved its efficiency ratio. And each segment demonstrated the benefits of its scale.
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
The macro call, with its risks named
So overall, the U.S. economy has proved more durable than expected, supported by the strong consumer, ongoing AI-driven investments across the board, and easing energy costs, though inflation and tighter monetary policy remain key risk.
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
AI, counted rather than described
Our associates are generating more than 400,000 prompts a day. And as of last week, we had over 300 AI use cases approved – all of which have good economics – of which 114 are live generative AI use cases. 34 of those cases are fully implemented, and we see new capabilities coming on every week.
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
Deposits, the funding advantage in numbers
Average deposits were $2.02 trillion, up $49 billion or 2.5% from a year ago, and importantly, included noninterest-bearing growth of $19 billion, up 4%. This marks our 12th consecutive quarter of average deposit growth
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
The NII guide, set for the third time this year
in January, we told you to expect 5% to 7% full year NII growth. And then in April, we raised that full year range to be 6% to 8%. We now expect full year 2026 NII growth to be at the upper end of that 6% to 8% range, supported by anticipated loan and deposit growth, fixed rate asset repricing and balance sheet optimization.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
An operating-leverage guide that doubled in three months
we told you we expected full year operating leverage of more than 200 basis points. And operating leverage for the first half of 2026 has now exceeded 450 basis points. […] we now expect full-year operating leverage to be in the range of 300 to 400 basis points.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
The trading quarter, split into its two halves
Equities delivered a record $3.6 billion of revenue, up 70% driven by client financing activity and strong trading performance in derivatives and cash. FICC generated $3.5 billion, its strongest quarter in more than a decade.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
The streak the desk is actually judged on
we've now delivered 17 consecutive quarters of year-over-year sales & trading revenue growth and 14 consecutive quarters of year-over-year net income growth.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
Why the full-year number looks lower than the half-year one
we're offering the 300 basis points to 400 basis points, recognizing that we've already booked 450 basis points for the first half, so that's good.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
What a September hike is actually worth this year
if we've got one rate hike in the curve, it's in September. So, its impact this year is pretty modest because you're really only capturing anything in October, November, and December.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
Tougher comps, not a slowdown
most all of the NII build last year was in the second half of the year. So, we're just up against tougher comps. That's all. It's not more complicated than that.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
The 17% return, arrived early
The return on tangible common equity was 17%. We thought it would take us longer to get there.
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
Where the NII lift is supposed to end up
it's all going to come to the bottom line. And that's – our goal is to make sure all the NII lift as we march from 1.90%s in NIM up to the 2.30%s, which we said we could do
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
Why there is no expense guide any more
the expense at this point is really going to be based on what happens with revenue. If the revenue isn't there, then the expense will come down.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
The credit crises that never showed up
the issues of the moment, whether it's real estate 4 or 5 years ago or whether it was private capital lending and all the stuff, just aren't surfacing the way people thought they would.
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
The 2.30% NIM target, a year closer
we still feel good about that 2.30% number that we're aiming for. I think when we started, we said it would be 2 to 3 years. We're inside – probably inside a couple of years now to get there just based on the progress that we've made.
Alastair Borthwick · Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
The sign-off, and what it commits to
we gave you guidance that we're at the top end of the range in operating leverage. And so, all that backs into a strong second half ahead of us.
Brian Moynihan · Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America

In the order they were said. Pick a name to read only that speaker.

On the call

  • Lee McEntire — Investor Relations & Local Markets Organization Executive, Bank of America
  • Brian Moynihan — Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
  • Alastair Borthwick — Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bank of America
  • Operator
  • Chris McGratty — Analyst, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
  • Ken Usdin — Analyst, Autonomous Research
  • Manan Gosalia — Analyst, Morgan Stanley
  • Ben Gerlinger — Analyst, Citigroup
  • Erika Najarian — Analyst, UBS
  • Mike Mayo — Analyst, Wells Fargo
  • Gerard Cassidy — Analyst, RBC Capital Markets
  • Matt O'Connor — Analyst, Deutsche Bank

About these quotes

Every passage above is quoted verbatim from Bank of America Corporation's Q2 2026 earnings call of Jul 14, 2026, checked against the recording's transcription word for word. Bank of America publishes its own transcript of this call and states that its content belongs to the company. This page therefore quotes from the call rather than reproducing it, and every passage below was checked word for word against the company's published transcript before it appeared here. The full transcript, the slides, the webcast and the replay are on the quarterly earnings page at investor.bankofamerica.com. Figures spoken on a call are management's own and are checked against the release before they are used anywhere else on this site.

WebcastListen to the call at Bank of America Corporation investor relationsThe company's own replay — the authoritative record ReleaseQ2 2026 results press releaseWhere every figure quoted here is verified NumbersQ2 2026 earnings pageThe reported figure set, Rule of 40 score and consensus comparison