Bank of America Corp will end a nine-month old, $118 billion asset-guarantee program with the U.S. government, paying a $425 million exit fee, the company announced on Tuesday.

The facility, never formally signed, was laid out in a term sheet in January 2009, on the heels of Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

Bank of America initially agreed to the program, which included limiting potential losses on $118 billion of combined company assets.

But the bank pulled back on the deal this spring and began negotiating an exit from deal.

Initially, Bank of America sought to exit the asset-guarantee program without paying a fee, but the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday a deal was near as the bank had softened its stance on an exit fee.

Bank of America also said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has approved its exit from the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, the regulator's debt guarantee initiative.

(Reporting by Joe Rauch; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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