U.S. Bank Profits Drop as Industry Slows Reductions in Credit Loss Provisions

U.S. bank profits fell 8.3 percent to $70.4 billion in the second quarter of 2021 as firms slowed their reductions in credit loss provisions, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reported on Wednesday. While profits were still significantly higher than they were a year ago—up 281 percent from the second quarter of 2020—banks slowed the rate at which they shrank the large cushions they built up at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. In the second quarter, banks upped their credit loss provisions by $3.7 billion, but those provisions are still down significantly from a year ago, declining $73 billion, or…