(Reuters] – Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:) posted a rise in fourth-quarter profits on Wednesday. The Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:) benefited from global loan growth as well as a frenetic pace of dealmaking that drove its investment banking division.

U.S. Banks are likely to feel some relief after years of being unable to borrow money due to low interest rates.

Bank of America will be the largest beneficiary of this potential move due to its substantial loan and deposit books, large exposure to rate sensitive mortgage securities, and its high-profile position in the market. It is second only behind Wall Street banks.

Nearly 11% of net interest income (NII) – a measure that compares the interest paid on loans with the interest received on deposits – rose to $11.41 trillion.

During the year, Bank of America rode the global M&A boom to post strong profit, as investment banking businesses closed record volumes of mergers, underwrote several initial public offerings and advised on deals involving special purpose acquisition companies.

For pandemic losses not covered by its reserve, the bank released $851 Million.

Premarket trade saw shares of the company rise by almost 2%

Profit was also boosted by a recovery in consumer spending for credit and debit cards, and strong performances in trading and advisory at the bank.

According to the bank, combined spending on debit and credit cards increased 22% to $212 Billion in quarter.

The average loan and lease prices, which exclude those from government-backed Paycheck Protection Programs (PPP) grew by 3.4% and 3.2% respectively in the last quarter.

The bank posted revenue net of interest expense of $22.1 billion for the quarter that ended December 31, up 10% over last year.

The profit rose from $5.21billion or 59c per share to $6.77billion last year, to $6.77billion or 82c per share.

The average analyst had predicted a profit of 76% per share according to IBES from Refinitiv.