(Reuters) -U.S. bank PNC Financial reported an 11.2% rise in second-quarter profit on Wednesday, aided by higher interest and fee income.
A robust labor market and spending trends boosted major stock indices to record highs through the end of June, after a few turbulent months following the Trump administration's U.S. tariff announcements.
M&A activity also picked up in the quarter, anchored by some big-ticket initial public offerings and buyouts.
PNC's strong results are in line with those of major
U.S. lenders such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, both of which posted higher quarterly profits on Tuesday.
Net interest income (NII) - the difference between what a bank earns as interest on loans and pays out on deposits - jumped to $3.56 billion in the second quarter for PNC, compared with $3.30 billion a year earlier, benefiting from loan growth and continued repricing of certain fixed-rate assets.
PNC's provisions for credit losses rose to $254 million in the second quarter, compared with $235 million a year earlier.
"The strength of our franchise resulted in strong loan and revenue growth even through an uncertain macro environment, while expenses remained well controlled," said PNC chairman and CEO Bill Demchak.
U.S. banks are pursuing growth in fee-based segments as these are less exposed to the pricing pressure from higher interest rates and stagnant loan growth.
Adjusting for one-time items, total fee income for the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based PNC came in at $1.89 billion, up from $1.78 billion in the year-ago period.
The increase reflected an 18% jump in capital markets and advisory revenue. Asset management and brokerage revenue rose 7% to $391 million from the year-ago period.
The lender's net income rose to $1.64 billion, or $3.85 per share, from $1.48 billion, or $3.39 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
