Bank of America said Wednesday it posted a loss of 194 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2009, and that repayments of government aid boosted the loss for shareholders to 5.2 billion dollars.
For all of 2009, the largest US bank by assets had a profit of 6.3 billion dollars, but for shareholders the results were a loss of 2.2 billion following payments to the US Treasury stemming from bailout aid.
The last quarter's results were affected by a charge of 4.0 billion dollars to repay the US government for its capital aid under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a massive effort to stabilize the banking system, Bank of America said.
"While it's disappointing to report a loss for the fourth quarter, there were a number of important accomplishments worth noting," said chief executive Brian Moynihan.
"First, we repaid the American taxpayer, with interest, for the TARP investment. Second, we have taken steps to strengthen our balance sheet through successful securities offerings. And third, all of our non-credit businesses recorded positive contributions to our results.
Moynihan added: "As we look at 2010, we are encouraged by signs the economy is improving, as we have seen in the stabilization of our credit costs, particularly in the consumer businesses.
"That said, economic conditions remain fragile and we expect high unemployment levels to continue, creating an ongoing drag on consumer spending and growth."
The results amounted to a loss for shareholders of 60 cents a share, worse than the 53 cent loss expected by analysts.
Bank of America, which weathered the financial crisis with 45 billion dollars in government aid after it absorbed troubled brokerage Merrill Lynch and home lender Countrywide Financial, said results were hurt by high credit costs, offset in part by gains in investment banking and trading.
The group repaid the entire TARP injection in December, after raising fresh capital in the markets.
Revenues in the quarter grew 59 percent to 25.4 billion dollars, reflecting in part the addition of Merrill Lynch.
The provision for credit losses was 10.1 billion dollars, 1.6 billion lower than the third quarter and 1.6 billion higher than the same period a year earlier.
The bank added 1.7 billion dollars to cover new credit losses, but said the rate of consumer and business loan delinquencies was not as high as in previous quarters.
For the full year, revenue net of interest expense rose 63 percent to 120.9 billion dollars, due in part to the addition of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch.
The results are part of a mixed set of earnings for the banking sector, which is returning to health after more than a year of crisis but drawing intense scrutiny over hefty executive pay schemes.
Copyright 2010  AFP American Edition
