Bank of America Corp. said Thursday that its profit doubled in the first three months of the year.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based lender posted earnings of $8.05 billion in the first quarter. That compared with $4.01 billion a year earlier, when banks took big hits to their earnings to begin stockpiling rainy-day reserves at the beginning of the pandemic.
The bank made 86 cents a share, beating the 66 cents forecast in a FactSet poll of analysts.
Earnings from the largest banks have reflected heightened optimism about an economic rebound. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday they both released money they had socked away last year to cover widespread loan defaults.
Bank of America said it released $2.7 billion of its reserves, boosting its bottom line. Charge-offs were down from a year earlier.
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