Bank of America reports losses of over US$2.2 billion

October 16, 2009 The Bank of America Corporation, the second-largest bank in the United States, has announced that it lost US$2.24 billion in the third quarter of this year, mainly due to increases in loan losses. According to the bank, the losses are equal to 26 cents per share, worse than most economic analysts had forecast. In the same period a year earlier, Bank of America had gained $704 million, or fifteen cents per share.

The bank's CEO, Ken Lewis, said in a statement that "[...] credit costs remain high, and that is our major financial challenge going forward. However, we are heartened by early positive signs, such as the leveling of delinquencies among our credit card numbers."

Lewis said that losses from loans would probably continue to increase. In a conference call with analysts, he said that "based on [the] economic scenario, results in the fourth quarter are expected to continue to be challenging as we close the year."