Dive Brief:
- Profit at Truist jumped 24% in 2021’s fourth quarter — to $1.5 billion — compared with the same three-month span a year earlier, the bank reported Tuesday.
- That total excludes $212 million in merger-related and restructuring charges, and $215 million in operating expenses related to the 2019 merger between BB&T and SunTrust that formed the bank.
- Merger costs are expected to abate by the end of 2022, presumably opening the bank to a wider profit margin, Truist CEO Bill Rogers said. After this year, "we will shift from an integration mindset to an operating mindset focused on executional excellence and growth, accelerate investments in our businesses, all underpinned by our unwavering purpose," Rogers said.
Dive Insight:
Profits at the nation’s sixth-largest retail bank were more pronounced when looking at all of 2021, as opposed to just the fourth quarter. Truist reported $6 billion in net income available to common shareholders for the full year, compared with $4.2 billion for 2020, a 42.9% increase.
A number of other measures showed a less drastic contrast, sliding up or down by single-digit percentage points. The bank saw a 3.7% decline in net interest income over 2020’s fourth quarter. Noninterest income rose 1.7% over the same time frame.
For the full year, net interest income slumped $820 million, or 5.9%. Noninterest income jumped $411 million, or 4.6%. Noninterest expense rose $219 million, or 1.5%.
The bank released $103 million in loan-loss provisions during the fourth quarter — a fraction of the $3.1 billion it let go during the full year.
On a more granular level, net income at Truist’s consumer banking and wealth unit fell 22.5% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three-month span and 18.4% from 2020’s fourth quarter.
Year over year, loans fell 3.8%, while deposits soared 9.3%.
At the corporate and commercial bank, net income saw a decrease of 0.05% over the third quarter, but an 11.4% increase year over year.
"The quarter reflects improved revenue momentum," Rogers said. "We also made critical progress integrating our systems, activating our purpose and expanding [environmental, social and governance] and diversity initiatives."
