Wall Street profits fell 13 percent in the first half of the year to $8.7 billion, signaling a potential second straight annual decline, according to a report from New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Legal settlements tied to banks’ role in triggering the financial crisis are depressing profits after a 30 percent decline last year to $16.7 billion, DiNapoli said in the report released Tuesday. At the same time, bonuses, which rose 15 percent on average last year to $164,530, the highest since the financial crisis, may climb again as a result of payments deferred from previous years, he said.
“Wall Street remains very profitable, but earnings may be constrained this year as the industry pays a price for behavior that contributed to the financial crisis,” DiNapoli, a 60-year-old Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement.
Since the beginning of 2009, the six largest bank holding companies, including their securities operations, have agreed to pay an estimated $130 billion in settlement costs, DiNapoli said. Those expenses will probably hold down profits during the second half of 2014, he said.
DiNapoli’s report analyzed results of the broker-dealer operations of New York Stock Exchange member firms.