The U.S. securities industry had a record-breaking year in 2006, reporting full-year profits of $33.1 billion – 88.2 percent above the $17.6 billion earned in 2005, and 4.7 percent above the previous record of $31.6 billion in 2000, according to SIFMA.
The 4Q’06 pre-tax profits of $10.8 billion were 54.9 percent above the preceding quarter and 156.8 percent above results in the same year-earlier period. The increase in profits in 4Q’06 occurred while both quarterly gross revenues and expenses hit record-high levels.