Bank Of America Posts $7.3 Billion Loss
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N.Y.Times
Bank of America said on Tuesday that it lost $7.3 billion for the third quarter, after taking a previously announced onetime $10.4 billion loss in its credit cards unit related to new rules governing the business.
Excluding the charge, Bank of America reported $3.1 billion in net income, or 27 cents a share, a reversal from the $1 billion net loss it reported at the same time last year. The average profit estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters was 16 cents a share.
Like other big banks, Bank of America halved the reserves it had set to protect against potential losses across its banking businesses, to $5.4 billion from $11.7 billion. The cut in reserves helped bolster otherwise soft earnings across the firm’s operations.
But the cuts also highlighted what the firm said was slowly improving credit quality among its customers. Its net charge-off ratio, a percentage of loans it had written off, fell to $3.1 percent from $4.1 percent for the same time last year.
“We are adapting to the regulatory environment, credit quality continues to improve, and we are managing risk and building capital,” Brian T. Moynihan, Bank of America’s chief executive, said in a statement. “We are realistic about the near-term challenges, and optimistic about the long-term opportunity.”

