36.7%.
That was Truist’s year-over-year increase in diluted earnings per share for the second quarter, from $0.90 to $1.23. The diluted shares fell 5.1%, from 1.3 billion to 1.2 billion.
The quarter’s arithmetic is doing two jobs at once. Truist grew its average loan book, held noninterest expense flat, and spread earnings across fewer shares. But the core price of lending moved the other way: net interest margin, the gap between what the bank earns on assets and pays for funding, narrowed.
"NIM - TE was 2.98%, down four basis points. Average earning assets increased $11.5 billion, or 2.4%, primarily due to an increase in average total loans of $17.9 billion, or 5.7%, partially offset by a decline in average securities of $3.7 billion, or 3.0%, and average other earning assets (primarily cash at the Federal Reserve) of $2.5 billion, or 6.2%. The yield on the average total loan portfolio was 5.68%, down 33 basis points."
10-Q 2026-07-31
In plain English, Truist put more money into loans, but earned less on each dollar of its average loan portfolio. The loan balance grew faster than total earning assets because securities and cash balances shrank.
That puts the per-share jump in a narrower frame. The bank added volume, while the spread on that volume compressed, and the share count declined. The filing does not say why the shares fell, so the earnings benefit from that change is visible even if its mechanism is not.
A second pressure point showed up outside the loan book. Truist said net interest income in its other businesses fell as cash and securities balances, along with their yields, declined. Higher internal funding credit on Consumer deposits also weighed on that line, partly offset by lower funding credit on Wholesale deposits.
"OT&C net interest income decreased $211 million primarily due to a decline in interest income on cash balances and securities resulting from lower balances and yields in those portfolios as well as higher inter-segment funding credit on Consumer deposits, partially offset by lower inter-segment funding credit on Wholesale deposits."
10-Q 2026-07-31
This is not a clean loan-growth story. It is a balance-sheet reshuffle with a higher per-share result: more loans, fewer securities and cash balances, lower loan yields, and less expense growth. Truist’s average deposits in its Consumer, Small Business and Wealth business rose 1.5%, helped by money market, savings, and noninterest-bearing deposits, while time deposits and interest checking declined. That gives the bank some funding growth, but the filing still records the margin trade-off.
Costs were another offset. Noninterest expense was flat, with lower professional fees, outside processing costs, and employee-benefit expense offsetting higher salaries, incentive compensation, and spending on enterprise technology talent. Flat costs matter when the share count is lower, even if the lending spread is thinner.
At the latest close, Truist shares were $51.85, down 0.3% on July 31. The stock was up 17.1% over the prior 12 months, a market fact that adds context without explaining the day’s move.
The unresolved detail is operational rather than dramatic: Truist’s next quarterly report will provide the next comparable read on NIM and the average loan-portfolio yield, the two figures that show whether loan growth is arriving with more or less earning power.
More loans, fewer shares, thinner spread. Banking’s oldest three-line joke is still getting updates.