Truist First-Quarter Financials Show $1.3 Billion Net Income

Truist Financial Corporation has reported its earnings for the first quarter, with the net income available to common shareholders being $1.3 billion, according to a company report. The earnings per diluted common share were $0.98, which represented a 34.2 percent increase from the same time last year.

“Truist and our teammates have a lot to be proud of in the first quarter, including a strong financial performance and several significant milestones reflective of our purpose in action,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kelly S. King. “We advanced our ESG strategy with the issuance of our first social bond — becoming the first U.S. regional bank to do so — and became the lead investor for Greenwood, an innovative digital banking platform designed for Black and Latinx consumers and business owners.”

He added that the company had received a designation of “outstanding” for the company’s CRA rating, signaling its community development efforts. The company ended 2020 at 114 percent of its annual target for the Community Benefits Plan, which provides support and investments for diverse communities.

The report noted that the firm’s capital and liquidity levels remained strong, with the common equity tier 1 to risk-weighted access being 10.1 percent, and tier 1 risk-based capital sitting at 12 percent. The total risk-based capital was 14.3 percent.

The total taxable-equivalent revenue was $5.5 billion for the first quarter, which was a decrease of $169 million compared to the previous quarter. And net interest income for the first quarter of 2021 was down $81 million from the last quarter, which the company credited to fewer days, lower purchase accounting accretion and lower rates on earning assets.

A PYMNTS report called A New Approach for Modernizing Payments in Banking examines Truist, as well as Chase, in terms of how they’ve evolved in the new digital world. The report found that technology provided beneficial options like cloud processing, application programming interfaces (APIs) and microservices, which can help digitize banks and allow for more seamless services.