On Friday, Bank of America reported a net loss of $1.2 billion, or $0.16 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2010, vs. a net loss of $194 million, or $0.60 per share, a year ago. The loss included a goodwill-impairment charge of $2 billion in its home loans and insurance unit.
Excluding the charge, the company earned $756 million, or $ 0.04 per share, analysts had expected earnings of $0.21 a share for the quarter.
For 2010, BofA had goodwill-impairment charges of $12.4 billion and a net loss of $2.2 billion, or $0.37 per share, vs. a net loss of $0.29 per share in 2009. Excluding the charges, the company earned $10.2 billion, or $0.86 per share.
"Last year was a necessary repair and rebuilding year," said President and CEO Brian Moynihan (left) in a press release.
Merrill, Wealth Management
Net income for BofA's global wealth and investment management unit, which includes Merrill Lynch, fell $197 million to $332 million compared with the same period last year, "reflecting higher provision for credit losses," the company says.
Revenue, though, increased to $4.28 billion, compared to $4.05 billion in the year-ago quarter, due in part to increased deposits, according to BofA. Asset management fees rose to $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter, reflecting positive market and long-term client flows.
For the full year, net income dropped $369 million in 2010 to about $1.35 billion, "driven by higher non-interest expense and the tax-related effect from the sale of the Columbia long-term business," the company said in a statement.
Revenue, though, improved $534 million from a year earlier to $16.7 billion on "higher asset management fees and transactional revenue."
Merrill Lynch, which accounts for nearly 80% of the wealth-management unit's sales, boosted its year-over-year revenue by close to $400 million – or 13% — in the fourth quarter of 2010 to $3.55 billion. Fourth-quarter sales also improved about $285 million, or 9%, over third-quarter results.
