Still, it’s a precarious position to be in: economists continue to warn that the Fed’s moves will spark a recession, leading to job cuts. For banks, losses on consumer loans historically have risen with unemployment levels.
Borthwick offered one additional note of caution on Monday, saying that spending growth on BofA’s cards has begun to slow. In September, volumes climbed just 10%, compared with 12% growth year to date.
“If there were some form of recession, then obviously we’d expect some demand mitigation -- we just haven’t seen that yet,” Borthwick said. “If you look at our consumer spending, that’s still growing, but it’s probably slowing a little from where it has been.”
--With assistance from Keith Gerstein.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.