Bank of America Corp. on Thursday posted fourth-quarter profit of $732 million, or 3 cents a share, compared to $1.99 billion, or 15 cents a share a year ago
Revenue at the firm was $18.7 billion, compared to $24.9 billion a year ago
Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected the company to earn 2 cents a share on revenue of $21.19 billion
The latest quarter's results included several one-time, previously disclosed items, including a provision of $2.7 billion related to the settlements with Fannie Mae with respect to representations and warranties and compensatory fees; other provision items of $2.5 billion which included a $1.1 billion provision for the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) acceleration agreement, total litigation expense of $900 million and a $500 million provision for obligations related to mortgage insurance rescissions
The company also took a hit of $700 million for negative debit valuation adjustments and fair value option adjustments due to improvement in the company's credit spreads
"Relative to the year-ago quarter, the results for the fourth quarter of 2012 were driven by improved credit quality across most major portfolios, increased sales and trading revenue, increased investment and brokerage income, higher investment banking fees, partially offset by an increase in consumer real estate losses, reflecting the Fannie Mae settlements and the provision for the IFR acceleration agreement," the company explained in a press release
