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For big banks, 2025 is looking like the Year of Bling.
The nation’s largest banks closed out 2024 with nearly unanimous earnings and revenue beats, and, in many cases, record-high profits. And they’re expecting this year to look even rosier.
Collectively, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo had their second most profitable year ever in 2024, Bloomberg reported, bringing in around $100 billion in profit. (2021 was these banks’ most profitable year.) JPMorgan crossed the $50 billion in total profit mark, a first for an American bank.
For the fourth quarter of 2024, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citi all beat expectations for earnings and revenue, and Wells Fargo beat expectations for earnings but missed on revenue. JPMorgan’s profit grow year over year, to $14 billion for the quarter. Citi’s net income was up almost 40% for the year, coming in at $12.7 billion.
Expectations that the second Trump administration will be business-friendly have buoyed bankers’ hopes for a strong 2025, as the New York Times reported. “The incoming administration support of US businesses and consumers gives us optimism as we look forward,” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said on an earnings call. “Additionally, the incoming administration has signaled a more business-friendly approach to policies and regulation, which should benefit the economy and our clients.”
Deals ahoy: Dealmaking began to rebound in the back half of 2024 after a sluggish 2023 and first half of 2024. Now banks are seeing a backlog of deals, CNBC reported. The pipeline is “the strongest it’s been in five to 10 years, maybe even longer,” Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said.
And a rise in investment banking revenue helped bolster the banks’ stellar quarter. I-banking fees rose significantly year over year at all four of the biggest banks. Wells Fargo saw the biggest jump, percentage-wise; its I-bank fees were up 59% over Q4 2023.