A groundswell of activity in boardrooms and on trading floors is hyping up investors about the coming year for some of the biggest banks. But that isn't the whole story for the Main Street banking sector.
In the first batch of fourth-quarter earnings reports from the biggest global banks, there were signs that 2025 might see a lot of mergers, big trades and other activity in the realm of high finance. They aren't expecting the same jump in 2025 for what might be considered core banking growth, as defined by lending or net interest income. That is a measure of the yield income generated by lending and investments in securities, less what a bank pays out to depositors and for other funding. This doesn't bode so well for smaller lenders.
JPMorgan Chase is forecasting a slight decline in its core net interest income, which excludes the more-volatile markets unit, from about $92 billion in 2024 to roughly $90 billion in 2025. Wells Fargo said it is anticipating 1% to 3% net interest income growth-with a portion of that driven by some more mechanical factors, such as older investments maturing and being reinvested at higher rates.
This story is from the January 16, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
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This story is from the January 16, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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