Bank of America posts huge Q4 losses

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161283.html


The largest US Bank, Bank of America, has reported huge losses in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 year and revealed a streak of two consecutive quarters of non-profitability.

Bank of America on Friday announced a fourth-quarter net loss of USD 1.2 billion, or 16 cents a share, Forbes reported on Friday.

The loss was driven by charges from pre-announced settlements and write-downs related to mortgage problems.

Bank of America's revenue was also down 11 percent in the quarter to USD 22.7 billion, which was well behind analysts' expectations.

Analysts had been expecting a USD 3 billion charge after the bank said it would pay USD 1.28 billion to Freddie Mac and USD 1.52 billion to Fannie Mae in a bid to buy back toxic mortgages.

For the full year of 2010, Bank of America reported a net loss of USD 2.2 billion or 37 cents per share.

Bank of America's earnings have been dominated by costs from bad mortgages sold by its sub-prime mortgage unit, Countrywide, during the housing crisis of 2008.

Countrywide has cost the bank more than USD 5 billion in write-downs over the previous two years.

Private investors have taken legal actions against Bank of America to compel it buy back mortgages sold on the open market.

The financiers argue that the mortgages didn't keep to the underwriting policies of government-sponsored enterprises of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Bank of America and other former Countrywide executives are currently facing numerous law suits over attempts to force lenders to buy back loans that may have been made with incorrect data on income and home values.

In December, America's largest home and car insurance company, Allstate, sued Countrywide for miscalculating misrepresenting the risks on more than USD 700 million of mortgage securities it had earlier bought.

Bank of Japan holds emergency meeting

A security guard is seen through a link in a chain fence outside the
Bank of Japan building in Tokyo


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140558.html


The Bank of Japan is holding an emergency meeting to decide on easing monetary policy in an effort to curb a surging yen amid mounting political pressure.

"Today... the chairman of the Policy Board decided to call an unscheduled monetary policy meeting," Japan's central bank said in a statement on Monday.

The strength of the Japanese currency has battered the country's already fragile economy as political pressure is mounting on the bank to ease its monetary policy.

The news sent Japanese stocks soaring, with the Nikkei 225 stock average rising by 3.1 percent to stand at 9,265.39 points.

The government usually doesn't intervene in foreign exchange markets, but Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has warned that Tokyo will take decisive action when necessary.

Kan's economic team is expected to hold another meeting on Monday to decide the basic thrust of steps to help the fragile economy.

The rise in the yen has hurt Japan's export-driven economy, making Japanese products more expensive aboard.

It is also threatening to delay the country's exit from deflation. The yen hit a fresh 15-year high against the dollar last week.