NEW YORK, April 16 — Turmoil in financial markets created some profitable opportunities for large banks in the first quarter, but results released yesterday underscored the darkening prospects for the US economy.

Trading divisions at large banks garnered boom-like revenue jumps, while banks also benefitted from a deluge of high-quality companies seeking to raise debt.

But results from Citigroup, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs highlighted that they clearly are preparing for a US recession.

All three banks set aside large sums of money in reserve against bad loans, even though it significantly dented profits, reflecting concerns about a possible wave of major defaults amid uncertainty over how long the coronavirus shutdowns will last.

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The measures follow similar announcements Tuesday from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, as executives try to assess how much the unprecedented support from Washington will sustain the US economy as the coronavirus crisis rages.

Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon is telling clients “to hope for the better, but plan for the worst,” he said during a conference call with analysts.

“We can all have economic forecasts and we can all talk about the economic consequence of this, but unless people feel safe and secure and confident around the virus, the economic impact will continue in some way, shape or form,” Solomon said.

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For many clients “it’s still going to feel like you’re operating in a recession,” potentially well into 2021, even if the US economy is not technically in recession during all of that time, he said.

Range of gloomy scenarios

Citigroup has been testing its loan book against a wide array of economic scenarios, including ones where unemployment reaches 15 per cent and US growth contracts by as much as 40 per cent, said Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason.

“We would imagine those would be severe-type scenarios,” Mason told reporters on a conference call, “but we’re in touch across our firm to make sure we can manage that.”

He said the Citigroup’s credit card business saw a decline of 30 per cent in sales at the end of the March and “we’ve continued to see that pressure play through in April.”

Citigroup set aside around US$7 billion (RM30.4 billion) in the first quarter in case of defaults, leading to a 46 per cent drop in profits to US$2.5 billion. Revenues rose 12 per cent to US$20.7 billion.

Mason said the bank could delay some spending, such as marketing for credit cards, depending on how conditions evolve.

Bank of America, the second largest US bank by assets after JPMorgan Chase, set aside US$4.8 billion for potential defaults, US$3.6 billion of which was added in the first quarter. Quarterly profits plunged 48.4 per cent from the year-ago period to US$3.5 billion.

The bank has received requests from some one million clients who have sought loan deferrals, about 80 per cent on credit cards.

About 16 per cent of Bank of America’s small business clients have sought deferrals accounting for nearly one-third of the balances for that program, the bank said in an investor presentation.

“We view it as a recessionary outlook,” said Paul Donofrio, chief financial officer of Bank of America. “None of the scenarios that we’re looking at is for anything other than a recession.”

Feast or famine

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs said profits dropped 49 per cent to US$1.1 billion, while revenues dipped one per cent to US$8.7 billion.

Goldman set aside US$937 million during the quarter to deal with potential defaults, citing “continued pressure in the energy sector and the impact of the Covid-19 on the broader economic environment.”

The shock from the coronavirus crisis had a feast-or-famine impact of many of Goldman’s divisions.

On the positive side, the firm enjoyed double-digit revenue boosts to fixed income and equity trading, and won the bank “significantly higher” revenue in corporate lending and underwriting.

But Goldman suffered an operating loss in its asset management business due to losses in equity and debt investments. The firm also saw a big drop in revenues tied to financial advising for corporate mergers.

Shares of Citigroup fell 5.6 per cent to US$42.86 and Bank of America tumbled 6.5 per cent to US$22.19, while Goldman Sachs added 0.2 per cent at US$178.52. — AFP