Bank Stock Buybacks Hit a Record in First Quarter. Citi, BofA, and Goldman Were Leaders.

The country’s largest banks, flush with record earnings and capital, executed their largest quarterly stock repurchases ever in the first three months of the year. The 21 large banks covered by Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg bought back $40 billion in the first quarter, up from $34 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 and from the prior record of $38 billion in the 2019 fourth quarter, just before the Covid crisis. The industry leaders, based on the biggest percentage reductions in share counts in the first quarter, were M&T Bank (3.9% reduction), First Citizens Bancshares (3.8%), Citi group (3.1%), Bank of America (1.9%), and Goldman Sachs Group (1.8%).