Bank of America ‘well on its way’ to reach $33.9 Bln Fed buffer

Bank of America Corporation announced Wednesday it was “well on its way” to reaching the $33.9 billion indicated Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP) buffer set by the Federal Reserve after it raised almost $26 billion to date.

The Charlotte based bank announced last week that it raised $13.5 billion through issuing 1.25 billion shares in an at-the-market common stock offering. It has also sold part of its holdings in China Construction Bank, generating a capital gain.

Tier 1 common capital was increased by $1.8 billion by reducing the deferred tax asset deduction.

Bank of America has entered into agreements with certain holders of (non-government) perpetual preferred shares to exchange their holdings of approximately $5.9 billion of preferred stock into approximately 436 million shares of common stock, adding a benefit of $5.9 billion to Tier 1 capital.

The company is now 76 percent of the way toward the SCAP buffer of $33.9 billion following the $26 billion raised.

The company could issue up to an additional 564 million common shares through the exchange of (non-government) perpetual preferred shares for common stock depending on the market conditions.

The bank further plans to sell non-strategic assets such as First Republic Bank and Columbia Management Group and establish joint ventures.

The company hopes to use the majority of the proceeds from these initiatives to reduce reliance on government support for the company, said Joe Price, chief financial officer.

Bank of America Stocks were up 3 percent this morning.