Artificial intelligence was a theme of
CEO Brian Moynihan said employees are generating more than 400,000 prompts a day and the bank has approved more than 300 AI use cases, "all of which have good economics."
AI is helping customer relationship managers prepare more thoroughly for client meetings, he said.
"Our bankers automate the research and presentation materials," Moynihan said. "Our developers code more efficiently and all our teammates improve productivity, consistency, and client service while creating significant opportunities ahead of us."
Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick said the bank's investments in growing its branch network, introducing new card products and deploying new AI tools designed to improve customer and employee experience have "helped to strengthen the franchise and drive organic growth." Net income increased 10% year-over-year to $3.3 billion, while revenue rose 5% to $11.3 billion, the bank reported.
"Through strong expense discipline, we generated our fifth consecutive quarter of positive operating leverage, maintained a strong 51% efficiency ratio, and delivered a 29% return on allocated capital," he said, adding deposits rose to $957 billion, the bank opened 162,000 net new checking accounts and card spending was up 9% year-over-year to $266 billion, he said. Consumer investment assets reached $640 billion, up 18% year-over-year.
"Digital engagement remains a clear differentiator, with roughly 50 million active digital users, more than 24 million active Erica users and digital sales representing 70% of total sales," Borthwick said. "New AI capabilities have improved service, increased efficiency and allowed teammates to focus on higher-value client interactions."
Borthwick also said financial advisors were more productive during the quarter, due to "growing digital engagement and new AI-enabled tools that help advisers prepare for client conversations, identify opportunities and deliver more personalized advice at scale." Merrill Lynch financial advisors use a version of Erica called Ask Merrill to help prepare for client calls.
"We also see meaningful opportunities to continue using AI and automation ourselves to improve productivity, strengthen client engagement, and support disciplined growth across the company," Borthwick said.
Another way AI is helping the bank increase revenue is that clients have been investing in the technology, he said.
"There's obviously a big AI theme going on in the world," Borthwick said. "We're leading in investment banking and global markets around capital raising, financing that massive capital investment and infrastructure build around the world."
Asked if the bank can sustain its AI investments and the "operating leverage" it's getting from AI, Moynihan said, "We are spending at a good clip overall in technology and also working to understand the projects in AI."
The bank reported this week that 19,000 of its developers use AI for real-time coding assistance, which is increasing productivity more than 20%.
"So the same amount of money in '27 will get us more code, for lack of a better term, in '28," Moynihan said. "So we're driving everything as hard as we can."
Asked about
"We talk to the companies that are in our portfolios of lending to make sure they're active using this so they don't get left behind," he said. "But on the other hand, they're using [AI] in a responsible way so that they can protect their data and their security and things like that. So we feel good about it, and we feel it will be a powerful force in a place where the American economy will be very successful."
