The Pittsburgh bank says fewer borrowers are asking for help and that many borrowers who received assistance are making payments again. But with the coronavirus pandemic still raging in much of the country, CEO William Demchak and other bankers are tempering their optimism.
The energy sector, retail and hospitality are among the industries that are faring poorly during the pandemic. The bank expects loan losses to remain elevated well into 2021.
Net charge-offs fell at Citigroup and Wells Fargo, thanks to forbearance and federal stimulus. Leaders of those banks are warning that delinquencies could rise once the benefits of those programs wear off.
Switching core banking systems has long been done face to face, but the coronavirus has driven the process into the digital arena. The change could be permanent.
The firm set aside a record $9.5 billion for credit losses, about $4 billion more than analysts had expected, as it braces for a wave of coronavirus-related defaults.
The results show how Wall Street giants such as Citigroup leaned on volatile businesses in the second quarter to counter mounting signs of distress from lending operations.
The country's largest bank said second-quarter profit fell 51% to $4.69 billion, a smaller drop than forecast, as record trading revenue helped counter the biggest loan-loss provision in its history.
