BNY quarterly profit beats estimates on higher fee income boost; shares jump

By Jaiveer Shekhawat

(Reuters) -BNY beat profit estimates for the fourth quarter on Wednesday as it earned higher investment services fees from its clients, sending its shares up 4.1% to $79.06 in premarket trading.

The bank’s fees, typically calculated as a percentage of assets under custody, benefited from the acquisition of new clients, a market rally due to the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cuts and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s election win, which boosted their value.

Economic resilience and expectations of further reductions in borrowing costs prompted clients to keep up their investment activities, bolstering BNY’s bottom line.

Its total fee revenue grew 9% to $3.51 billion in the reported quarter from a year earlier.

“As we turn into the year, there is a little more uncertainty,” CEO Robin Vince said in a call with reporters.

Net interest income – the spread between earnings from assets and expenditure from liabilities – rose 8% to $1.19 billion in the fourth quarter. Analysts had expected about a 5% drop in NII, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.

On an adjusted basis, the New York-based custodian bank reported a profit of $1.72 per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, comfortably beating analysts’ expectation of $1.56 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

BNY’s assets under custody and administration were $52.1 trillion in the fourth quarter, 9% higher than last year.