(Reuters] Bank of America Corp reported Monday a drop in the first-quarter profit due to a slowdown of global deal-making. Its investment banking businesses were also affected.

The Federal Reserve provided liquidity to capital markets in order to offset the negative economic effects of COVID-19.

The decline in investment banking revenue this year has been due to delayed takeovers by companies and stock market listings, despite a rise in volatility in the equity markets.

It was the second largest U.S. bank in terms of assets, and it released $362 Million from its reserves which were set aside to pay for bad loans.

In the March quarter, the bank recorded a 9.9% increase in consumer banking revenue to $8.8Billion.

The profit applicable to common shareholders dropped to $6.6 billion or 80 cents per shares for the quarter ending March 31, from $7.56 Billion or 86 Cents per Share a year prior.

According to Refinitiv’s IBES estimates, analysts had on average expected profit of 75c per share.