Rising markets and inflows pushed up assets under management, the US banking group said today.

The global wealth and investment management arm of Bank of America today reported an 8 per cent year-on-year rise in net income for the third quarter of  2019, standing at $1.1 billion, while revenues stood at $4.9 billion, up by 2 per cent.

Non-interest costs fell slightly, down by 1 per cent to $3.413 billion, BoA said.

Total client balances rose by 3 per cent to stand at $2.9 trillion at the end of September this year, powered by higher net flows and rising market levels over the reporting period. There were $5.5 billion in net inflows during the quarter.

The wealth management arm logged a wider pre-tax margin for Q3, 2019, at 30 per cent, versus 29 per cent a year before.

Across the whole of the BoA business lines, net income stood at $5.8 billion, down from $7.2 billion a year earlier. There was a joint venture impairment impact on the result of $1.9 billion, BoA said.

Revenue, net of interest expense, increased to $22.8 billion reflecting both higher investment banking fees and net interest income partially offset by an equity investment gain in the prior-year period.

“We remained disciplined in managing expenses and responsible in our approach to underwriting, which led to continued low costs and strong asset quality. In the quarter, we returned more than $9 billion to our shareholders,” chief financial officer Paul Donofrio said.