Bank of America Posts Second Straight Loss in Fourth Quarter

The woes just keep coming for the nation’s largest bank, Bank of America.

The self-professed “Bank of Opportunity” and the largest bank in California reported a second consecutive loss in Q4, made so by writedowns in the value of its mortgage sector, as well as some questionable purchases. The purchase of mortgage powerhouse Countrywide still stings the bank, and the past haunting them in the form of the purchase of MNBA in 2006 that hit them with a $10 billion goodwill charge still resonates to this day.

BoA saw a $2 billion writedown in overall value of its mortgage business in the fourth quarter. However, their global banking and markets unit came out in the green with a $724 million profit.

The damage includes a fourth quarter shareholder loss of $1.57 billion, which is an improvement on the loss of $5.2 billion posted last year. However, last year’s loss was conspicuously larger due to their repayment to TARP of $4 billion. Total revenues across the board were down 11 percent to $23 billion.

Among the bad news is a positive outlook – BoA has amassed a record $1 trillion in deposits, and consumer account attrition is down 30 percent to 40 percent, reportedly due to lower overdraft fees.