Bank of America posted a profit of $2.6 billion, or 20 cents a share, for the first quarter of 2013.
That is up from a profit of $653 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier and reflective of higher brokerage income, improved credit quality across all portfolios and higher investment banking fees.
Mortgages, on the other hand, offered a mixed bag of results for BofA (BAC), but overall the real estate lending segment turned a corner with delinquencies continuing to fall.
The company reported lower mortgage banking income for the period, but also said first-lien mortgage production rose 57% from a year earlier reaching a total of $24 billion in business.
Not to mention, the company, which has been dealing with legacy Countrywide loans acquired when it bought the subprime lender, is beginning to see a break in troubled homeowners.
In legacy assets and servicing, the number of loans 60 or more days past due fell 39% year-over-year to just 667,000 loans in the first quarter.
Bank of America also funded $25 billion residential home loans and home equity lines in the first quarter, up 11% from the fourth quarter of 2012 and 56% above year earlier levels, which bodes well on the originations side.
Those loans helped more than 106,000 homeowners either refinance a current mortgage or buy a home.
But consumer real estate services still reported a net loss of $1.3 billion in the first quarter, which is deeper than the $1.1 billion net loss recorded a year earlier.
Revenue in real estate services segment also fell by $352 million, reaching $2.3 billion in total revenue for 1Q. The company’s Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan even highlighted new mortgage originations in the report.
“Our strategy of connecting our customers to all we can do for them is working,” said CEO Brian Moynihan. “Solid increases in loan growth to small businesses and middle-market companies, four straight quarters of steady growth in mortgage originations, record earnings in wealth management, and another quarter near the top in investment banking fees show we are balanced, focused and moving forward.”
