Bank of America Earnings Call Nuggets: Legacy Cost Outlook and Reducing Delinquents in LAS

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) recently reported its fourth quarter earnings and discussed the following topics in its earnings conference call.

Legacy Cost Outlook

Matthew O’Connor – Deutsche Bank: A couple of follow-ups. I guess starting on the expenses appreciate the outlook on the legacy costs. As we think about all the other expenses that you planned to of $13.3 billion with some seasonal stuff this quarter, maybe you could just frame what we can expect for that level or for that bucket for 2013?

Bruce R. Thompson – CFO: You’re saying expenses not including LAS and litigation?

Matthew O’Connor – Deutsche Bank: Exactly. Yeah, the $13.3 billion that you (pointed) in the fourth quarter

Bruce R. Thompson – CFO: I think as you look at that number and if we keep LAS out of this, obviously, that the big new savings bucket that we have is new BAC. We’d indicated that we are on a quarterly basis at $900 million a quarter. As we leave 2012 we expect that our new BAC cost savings when we get to the fourth quarter of ’13 will be at $1.5 billion per quarter. So, you could expect to see on a core basis with new BAC about a $600 million increase from where we leave 2012 to where we leave 2013.

Start 2013 better than ever by saving time and making money with your Limited Time Offer for our highly-acclaimed Stock Picker Newsletter. Click here for our fresh Feature Stock Pick now!