Delving into the data, the private bank and Merrill businesses both reported rises in digital engagement, including money transfers and onboarding.

Bank of America said yesterday that its global wealth and investment management arm's net income slipped to $978 million in the three months to June 30, down from $1.151 billion a year earlier but rose from $917 million in the first quarter of this year.

A breakdown of different parts of the business, such as the private bank and Merrill organizations, also showed a rise in digital engagement, such as client onboarding, the banking group, which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a statement.

The year-on-year dip in the net income figure happened on the back of a fall in total GWIM revenue to $5.242 billion from $5.433 billion. Non-interest costs rose to $3.925 billion from $3.875 billion. Pre-tax margin declined to 25 per cent from 28 per cent. 

The costs rise – caused by investments in the business, including strategic hiring – was mostly offset by lower revenue-related incentives.

Total client balances in this business division stood at $3.635 trillion, up from $3.367 trillion a year before. Client average deposits were $295.4 billion from $363.9 billion.

There were $14.3 billion of asset under management (AuM) flows in the second quarter of this year, against just $1.0 billion a year before.

Within the private banking side of BoA, client balances stood at $578 billion, and AuM balances were $345 billion. The private bank brought in 960 net new relationships in the quarter, surging 46 per cent, the group said. 

In other detail, the private bank said digital engagement is high: 75 per cent of eligible checks were deposited by automated channels. Digital wallet transactions rose 42 per cent.

Within Merrill Wealth Management, there were $3.1 trillion of client balances and AuM balances of $1.2 trillion. A total of 11,100 net new households were added in Q2, up by almost 2.5 times from the same quarter a year ago. Tracking the digital side, Merrill Wealth Management said 83 per cent of households are digitally active. A record 79 per cent of households enrolled in eDelivery, and 335,000 planning reports were generated, rising 31 per cent. (eDelivery is Merrill’s digital brokerage service.) Some 64 per cent of eligible bank and brokerage accounts were opened via digital onboarding in the quarter, rising from 29 per cent a year before.