Bank of America released its financial results for the first quarter of 2019, reporting a net income of $7.3 billion, an increase of 6% year over year.

Other highlights from the Q1 report included:

• Diluted earnings per share of $0.70 rose 13%
• Pretax income of $8.8 billion rose 4%
• Revenue, net of interest expense, remained relatively stable at $23 billion. Higher net interest income from increased interest rates and loan and deposit growth was more than offset by lower non-interest income (A).
• Net interest yield (FTE basis) of 2.51% was up 9 bps (A).
• Provision for credit losses increased $179 million to $1 billion. The net charge-off ratio increased 3 bps to 0.43%.
• Non-interest expense declined $618 million, or 4%, to $13.2 billion. Efficiency ratio improved to 57%.
• Average loan and lease balances in business segments rose $33 billion, or 4%, to $897 billion, with consumer loans up 3% and commercial loans up 4%.
• Average deposit balances rose $63 billion, or 5%, to $1.4 trillion.
• The bank repurchased $6.3 billion in common stock and paid $1.5 billion in common dividends and returned 112% of net income available to common shareholders.

Brian Moynihan, Bank of America chairman and CEO, commented, “Our diverse business mix and commitment to responsible growth drove record quarterly earnings. Economic growth and consumer activity in the U.S. continue to be solid, businesses of every size are borrowing and driving the economy, and asset quality is strong. It was a challenging capital markets environment but our team and platform are optimized to serve clients and generate stable revenues across a range of market conditions over time. We reduced expenses by 4% from the first quarter of 2018, contributing to the seventeenth consecutive quarter of positive operating leverage.

“We are well positioned for continued solid results the right way. And we are building on that. We’ll add 350 financial centers in new and existing markets by 2021. Our network will provide coverage for more than 90% of the U.S. population. We continue to share success: we will raise the minimum starting pay in our company to $20 over the next twenty-four months; we’ll help 20,000 low-to-moderate income clients become homeowners; and we extended our Environmental Business Initiative to $300 billion over 10 years to help create a low-carbon sustainable future. We serve by asking the simple question to customers, employees, and communities: ‘What would you like the power to do?’. We listen to them and serve them with a team that is second to none.”