Higher trading activity after Donald Trump's US election victory helped drive revenues at Bank of America Merrill Lynch's sales and trading business to their second-highest finish to a year for half a decade.

BAML, in its fourth-quarter results statement on January 13, said that revenues at its global markets unit, excluding the effects of so-called debt valuation adjustments, rose 11% to $2.9 billion versus a year earlier - the second highest fourth-quarter figure in five years. Revenues from fixed income, currencies and commodities climbed 12% to $1.96 billion.