Bank of America Corp at Bank of America Financials CEO Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : That's great to hear. And what about the international client base? Bank of America also, of course, has a large presence outside of the US. Are you hearing any different?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Maybe let's stick with the international business outlook because investors have heard from different executives over the last few months about the growth opportunities of the international side. Can you give us maybe your take on these opportunities and what differentiates our international franchise from others?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Indeed. Maybe just to go back to that US strategy then and talk a little bit more about the strategy. And one of the differentiators of the US franchise is, of course, the ability to serve clients across different lines of businesses and deliver the company locally. So let's talk about the benefits of this strategy and some of the growth opportunities that you see across our US business.

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : So you've talked very well about the consumer and wealth synergies, of course, and you've touched on the banking side. If we stick on to the banking side, we've seen the business gain good share, and I heard about some strategic areas of focus, such as middle market investment banking. What other opportunities do you see for this business to grow and take more share?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Thanks for that. The markets business was given more balance sheet a couple of years ago and the additional investments seem to have paid off with the business delivering nine consecutive years -- quarters of year-on-year sales and trading growth. Strong profitability and improvements have been quite visible and with consistent returns. What key investments has the business made to deliver these results, and how do you think about investing in this business going forward?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Indeed. Now, all eyes, of course, on the markets. Perspective have been on the US macro data and the size and timing of the Fed interest rate cuts. Now, after the last 50 basis points rate cut, where do you see the rate path from here and what are some of the near-term impacts to Bank of America's profitability?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : That's important. You've reiterated the NII inflecting. Now, moving on to asset quality, it seems like consumer and commercial, ex commercial real estate office, have been holding up well, and economists seem more convinced recently that the Fed will be able to achieve a soft landing. Can you share some views as you look at our asset quality, anything you're concerned about?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Now, Bank of America is well known, and I think you still contributed greatly to that goodwill as group CFO for quality expense control and, at the same time, continuing to invest for growth. Now, what are some of the areas you're investing in today, and how do you balance these investments with keeping the cost growth in check?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : So we've talked about the investments, we've talked about cost control, we've talked about asset quality, and the outlook for the business, maybe a word on capital. We've recently seen the re-proposal of the capital rules originally put forward last summer in the US. Can you share your thoughts about these re-proposals?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : And how does that change your thoughts around managing this excess capital that you now have built that appears to increase in the context of what you just said with respect to capital requirements for US banks, which seem to be much lower than initially proposed?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Business as a usual. Okay, we can open up for questions. I think we've covered quite a lot of topics, I think enough to see if you have any questions from the audience for Alastair. Please raise your hand, and we'll come with a microphone. There's one question over there. Unidentified Participant Hello. That was a very interesting presentation and I've got one question. Deposit margins in the US have been incredibly high in the last year to 18 months. What do you feel about deposit betas as interest rates are cut?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Thanks for the question. Any more questions from the audience? We got time for one more. If not, I'll ask you a very last one from my side. I mean, you've now been in the CFO seat for a few years. And in that time, you've gone through a lot to navigating a global pandemic. We've seen steep increases in rates and now a rate-cutting cycle. What would you say you've learned in your time in the seat, and how do you manage through these changes for a global business like ours?

Question: Antonio Reale - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : That's great. Alastair, well, thank you so much for flying in into London for our Global Financial Conference. And thanks, everyone, for joining the session.