Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday it will restate its earnings going back to 2002, resulting in a net gain of $345 million at the nation’s second-largest bank.
Bank of America said the restatement adjusted the accounting of derivative transactions, which are used to offset volatility in interest rates and foreign currency. The restatements include quarterly and annual periods in 2002 through 2005, the bank said.
The revisions were made to meet reporting requirements by federal regulators, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said.
Bank of America joins companies including Fannie Mae in acknowledging some transactions didn’t comply with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 133, which governs the use of interest-rate swaps and other derivatives.
“The interpretations of how to apply SFAS 133, a quite complex standard, continue to evolve,” Alvaro de Molina, Bank of America chief financial officer, Alvaro de Molina, said in a statement.
A review connected with the standard also found problems with the bank’s internal controls for hedge accounting. The bank said the problems have been remedied and regulators informed.
Bank of America said the changes would cause shareholders’ equity to be adjusted upward by $308 million, or less than 1 percent.
Shares of Bank of America rose 42 cents to $44.97 in morning trading today on the New York Stock Exchange.
SFAS 133 is at the heart of the pending restatement of an estimated $11 billion at Fannie Mae, the biggest provider of mortgage financing, media reports said.
Fannie Mae’s federal regulator found the company’s use of interest-rate swaps, swaptions and interest-rate cap contracts failed to show the derivatives qualified for treatment as “perfectly effective” hedges, in which any loss in an underlying asset’s value is offset by an equal gain in the derivative, according to reports.
Fannie’s stock has been plagued by the company’s accounting problems, which are still under investigation and will likely lead to a profit restatement of as much as $11 billion.
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