Jan 17 (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp’s fourth-quarter profit nearly halved as it booked a $2.9 billion charge stemming from the new federal tax law.
The lender’s net income fell to $2.37 billion, or 20 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31 from $4.54 billion, or 39 cents per share, in the year earlier period.
Excluding the tax charge, the lender earned $5.3 billion, or 47 cents per share.
Analysts had expected the company to earn 44 cents per share on an adjusted basis, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the numbers were comparable. (Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru and Elizabeth Dilts in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)