Bank of America Corp's Booming Business

By Jordan Wathen – Jul 8, 2014 at 7:00AM

NYSE: BAC

Bank of America

Market Cap

$302B

Today's Change

(-0.13%) -$0.05

Current Price

$38.32

Price as of April 24, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

Bank of America's retail bank gets most of the attention, but its investment banking activities are important, too.

Bank of America (BAC -0.13%) has a booming investment and corporate banking business built on the back of robust mergers and acquisitions, including hot deals like the pursuit of Hillshire Farms.

What's helping investment and corporate banking -- low rates and even lower volatility -- is hurting the company's trading operations. Rivals Goldman Sachs (GS -0.23%) and JPMorgan (JPM 0.49%) have seen trading revenue decline, and continue to warn of lower revenue from FICC-based businesses.

Can Bank of America remain an ever-growing investment banking player? Will the lack of volatility forever ruin the profitability from rates and currency trading?

In the following video, Fool Contributors Jordan Wathen and Patrick Morris join Motley Fool Bureau Chief David Hanson to discuss the ups and downs of Bank of America's investment banking and trading operations.

Jordan Wathen has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.