Bank earnings season is well under way, and there are 33 things Bank of America (BAC 1.74%) did in 2013 that you likely wont believe.
1. Cut its branches by 6%, from 5,478 to 5,151.
2. Signed up 3.9 million new credit card accounts in the U.S. -- 653,000 more than last year.
3. Earned more in the fourth quarter ($0.29 per share) than it did in all of 2012 ($0.25 per share).
4. Grew its Consumer & Business Banking income by 19%, or $1 billion.
5. Cut its employees by 10%, from 267,190 to 242,117.
6. Maintained its No. 1 Global Research firm ranking.
7. Reduced its long-term debt by $26 billion, or 10%.
8. As a result, it paid out $2.6 billion, or 28%, less in interest expense on that long-term debt.
9. Underwrote $8.4 billion more mortgages than in 2012.
10. Brought in 15% more in Investment Banking income to hit $6.1 billion.
11. Grew its home equity loan production by almost 80% to $6.4 billion.
12. In total, saw its interest expense fall by $4 billion, to $12.8 billion.
13. Went from losing $3.7 billion in its mysterious "All Other" operations, to earning $487 million.
14. Saw its flows of assets under management double from $27 billion to $54 billion.
15. Delivered an average of $1 million in revenue per financial advisor.
16. Saw its client brokerage assets rise by $20.1 billion, or 27%.
17. Held a top three ranking in global high-yield corporate debt, Leveraged loans, asset-backed securities, investment-grade corporate debt, and syndicated loans investment banking deals.
18. Earned 1/3 more from its Wealth Management business in 2013 versus 2012 (a gain of $724 million).
19. Lost $1.3 billion less from its Consumer Real Estate Services segment.
20. Cut its mortgage loan servicing portfolio by $495 billion loans.
21. Delivered $7.3 billion more in net income to shareholders.
22. Had $500 million less revenue from its card operations.
23. Grew its share count by 6% as it issued 650 million more shares.
24. Added $9.2 billion in commercial real estate loans, bringing its balance to $42.6 billion.
25. Returned $5.8 billion more to the government than it did last year, paying out $4.7 billion in taxes, versus a $1.1 billion benefit last year.
26. Added $35.5 billion to its Consumer & Business Banking deposits, a gain of 7%.
27. Grew its cash balances by $20.6 billion, or 19%.
28. Only paid out $1.4 billion in interest expense -- equivalent to 0.19% -- on its $726 billion of deposits.
29. Added 2.4 million active mobile banking accounts, a gain of 20%.
30. Shrunk in size by $108 billion, or 5%.
31. Added $215 billion in client assets in its Wealth Management business.
32. Shrunk its Global Markets business assets by $56.5 billion, or 9%.
33. Despite shrinking in assets, Global Markets revenue rose by 11%, representing a gain of $1.3 billion.