Bank Profits Near Pre-Crisis Peak in U.S. Despite All the Rules

Ten of the nation‘s biggest lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. together made $30 billion last quarter, just a few hundred million short of the record in the second quarter of 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The achievement comes just as the industry‘s long campaign against post-crisis rules finds traction with the Trump administration.

Banks have been decrying regulations aimed at curbing risk, blaming them for hurting capital markets and discouraging lending to consumers and companies. President Donald Trump, echoing those complaints, has asked regulators to find ways to ease off. But in this year‘s second quarter, banks saw their profits propped up by lending operations even after a surge in revenue from more volatile trading units subsided.