Bank of America board approves buyback plan

Bank of America Corp. said its board approved a plan to repurchase up to 75 million shares of common stock.

The board authorized management to spend up to $3.75 billion during the next 12 to 18 months to buy back the stock.

Based on Wednesday's closing price of $33.44, it would cost Bank of America about $2.51 billion to repurchase 75 million shares of common stock.

Bank of America had about 4.45 billion shares of common stock outstanding at the end of the second quarter.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank also declared a regular quarterly dividend of 64 cents to be paid Sept. 26.

The dividend and share repurchase program come at a time when nearly all banks have faced mounting losses from rising defaults in their loan portfolios, especially loans tied to residential real estate.

Bank of America itself set aside $5.83 billion in cash to cover current and future loan losses, compared with $1.81 billion during the year-ago period.

Dozens of banks have slashed their dividends and had to raise cash to help shore up their capital bases amid rising defaults, forsaking ways to return cash to shareholders that had been the norm during the housing boom.