The three biggest US banks on Friday announced big profits for 2016, spurred by the boom in financial markets after the surprise victory of Donald Trump on November 8.
JPMorgan Chase, the country's largest bank, posted a record profit of $ 27.73 billion, including $ 6.73 billion in the fourth quarter.
Bank of America earned $ 16.2 billion, including $ 4.34 billion in the last three months of the year (+ 46.8%).
US economy is booming since the US presidential election
"The US economy is gaining momentum," said Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, adding that the future presents opportunities to put in place measures to stimulate growth and create jobs.
The banking sector has been booming since the US presidential election, on hopes of easing financial regulation, which would augur a golden age for speculation, heavily framed by the outgoing administration via the Dodd-Frank law.
This optimism resulted in a surge in revenues generated by the brokerage of treasury bills and other bonds, commodities and currencies (FICC), whose turnover jumped 31% at JPMorgan and 11% At Bank of America.
"Since the US election, we've seen an increase in investor confidence," said Marianne Lake, JPMorgan's chief financial officer.
Donald Trump, who will take power on Jan. 20, has promised to dismantle the Dodd-Frank law, lower taxes altogether and have appointed Wall Street figures to key positions in the US economy including Steven Mnuchin, "Goldman Boy" to head the Treasury.
The KBW, index stock market banking on Wall Street, has gained 23% since November 8.
"It is still too early to determine the impact that the change of administration in Washington will have on the regulatory environment," Paul Donofrio, chief financial officer of Bank of America, With journalists.
The US financial sector also received a boost from the central bank (Fed), which raised its key interest rate in December and suggested additional movements this year.
High interest rates are positive for banks because they can pass on to consumers by increasing the cost of their products (consumer loans and real estate loans, bank card and deposit fees ... ).
"If the recent rate hike came too late to boost fourth-quarter results, we expect higher earnings growth in the first quarter of 2017," said Donofrio.
In the meantime, profit margins have begun to improve, in this case the net interest margin - the net differential between the borrowing rate and the investment rate of the money.
It increased to 2.87% in the fourth quarter against 2.82% three months earlier at the California bank Wells Fargo, which provides one in five mortgage lending in the United States.
These results show that "the future is bright" for banks, say analysts Evercore.
Banking scandals
The page of the scandals is far from being turned as evidenced by the 4.2% decline to $ 21.94 billion of Wells Fargo 's 2016 profits, mainly due to the fines and costs of the measures taken to settle the " Fictitious accounts created in the name, but without the knowledge of its clients.
The institution, whose largest shareholder is the billionaire Warren Buffett, opened two million fictitious accounts between 2011 and 2016 that allowed its employees to earn premiums related to the sale of products to customers.
The scandal that broke out in September highlighted the disrespectful practice of cross-selling, which means that if a customer has a current account, he has to open a savings account, a mortgage, a car loan, Insurance, investment products, etc.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) and the stock exchange gendarme, the SEC, each opened an investigation.
