Bank of America Corporation today reported net income rose to $2.5 billion in the third quarter of 2013 from $340 million in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per diluted share increased to $0.20 from $0.00 in the third quarter of 2012. For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, net income increased to $8.0 billion from $3.5 billion in the same period a year ago.

Relative to the year-ago quarter, the results for the third quarter of 2013 were driven by reduced negative credit valuation adjustments on the company's credit spreads and increases in equity investment income, net interest income and investment and brokerage income. The company also benefited from improved credit quality and lower expenses. These factors were partially offset by lower mortgage banking income and the negative impact from remeasuring certain deferred tax assets due to the U.K. corporate income tax rate reduction enacted in July 2013.

"This quarter, we saw good loan growth, improved credit quality and record deposit balances. Our customers and clients continue to do more business with us," said Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan. "The economy and business climate will improve even more quickly as conditions normalize, and we are well positioned to benefit from that."

"We continued to make good progress on our expense initiatives, and we further strengthened our capital and leverage ratios," said Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson.

Revenue, net of interest expense, on an FTE basis rose $1.1 billion from the third quarter of 2012 to $21.7 billion. Excluding the impact of debit valuation adjustments (DVA) and fair value option (FVO) adjustments, revenue was $22.2 billion in the third quarter of 2013, compared to $22.5 billion in the third quarter of 2012.

Net interest income, on an FTE basis, totaled $10.5 billion in the third quarter of 2013, compared to $10.2 billion in the third quarter of 2012^A. The improvement was driven by reductions in long-term debt balances, less negative market-related premium amortization, lower rates paid on deposits, and higher commercial loan balances. These factors were partially offset by lower consumer loan balances and lower asset yields. Net interest margin was 2.44 percent in the third quarter of 2013, compared to 2.32 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

Noninterest income increased $774 million from the year-ago quarter, led by lower negative FVO adjustments, higher equity investment income primarily related to the gain on the sale of the company's remaining China Construction Bank (CCB) shares in the current quarter, and improved investment and brokerage income. These improvements were partially offset by a $1.4 billion decrease in mortgage banking income from the third quarter of 2012.

The provision for credit losses was $296 million in the third quarter of 2013, down $915 million from the second quarter of 2013 and $1.5 billion less than the third quarter of 2012. The provision for credit losses was lower than net charge-offs, resulting in a $1.4 billion reduction in the allowance for credit losses in the third quarter of 2013. This compares to a $900 million reduction in the allowance in second quarter of 2013, and a $2.3 billion reduction in the third quarter of 2012.

Noninterest expense was $16.4 billion, compared to $17.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, driven primarily by lower litigation expense, reduced expenses in Legacy Assets and Servicing (LAS) and lower personnel expense as the company continued to streamline processes and achieve cost savings. Litigation expense was $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2013, compared to $471 million in the second quarter of 2013 and $1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2012.

Income tax expense for the third quarter of 2013 was $2.3 billion on $4.8 billion of pretax income. This includes a charge of $1.1 billion for remeasuring certain deferred tax assets due to the U.K. corporate income tax rate reduction of 3 percent enacted in July 2013. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported income tax expense of $770 million on $1.1 billion of pretax income. This included a $0.8 billion charge for remeasuring certain deferred tax assets due to the enacted U.K. corporate income tax rate reduction of 2 percent.

At September 30, 2013, the company had 247,943 full-time employees, down from 257,158 at June 30, 2013, 272,594 at September 30, 2012 and from a peak of approximately 290,500 at September 30, 2011.