Bucky Badger
Go Kyle Go
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bank of America Corp. said Friday it lost more than $2 billion in the third quarter as loan losses kept rising, providing further evidence that consumers are still struggling to pay their bills.
The nation's second-largest bank, which lost $2.24 billion after accounting for preferred dividends, said its losses for failed loans came to almost $10 billion during the July-September period, up almost $1 billion from the second quarter. The bank also added $2.1 billion to its reserves to cover bad loans, bringing its total reserves to $11.7 billion.
Bank of America's results were aided by profit from investment bank Merrill Lynch, including income from bond, stock and currency trading.
Its earnings follow the pattern set this week by Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which also reported more loan losses during the third quarter as consumers struggled to keep up with their credit card and mortgage payments. Both JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported big gains from their trading operations.
Bank of America said it lost $2.24 billion, or 26 cents per share, after accounting for the preferred dividends of $1.24 billion. That compared with earnings of $704 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.