(MENAFN- AFP) Bank of America Wednesday reported an eight-fold increase in quarterly earnings due to primarily improving credit quality and costly charges in the year-ago period.The US banking giant reported fourth-quarter earnings of $3.2 billion on revenues of $21.5 billion, compared with earnings of $367 million on revenues of $18.7 billion in the year-ago period.Those results translated into per-share income of 29 cents, above the 26 cents projected by analysts.The results were boosted by much lower provisions for credit losses than in the 2012 period. Bank of America booked just $336 million in reserves compared with $2.2 billion in the 2012 quarter.Leading banks have benefited from better credit quality in recent quarters as the US economy has improved and consumers have paid down debt.Bank of America also pointed to higher commercial loan balances and record global banking revenue. But litigation expenses rose to $2.3 billion from $916 million a year ago as it confronts suits related to residential mortgage-backed securities sold by the bank ahead of the housing crisis.Bank of America reported a quarterly loss of $1.1 billion in its consumer real estate division compared with a loss of $3.7 billion in the 2012 period. The 2012 quarter was hit by a large settlements with the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae.Earnings in consumer and business banking rose to $2.0 billion thanks to better credit quality and higher average deposit balances. Earnings in this category were $1.4 billion a year ago.Bank of America reported full-year earnings of $10.1 billion compared with $2.8 billion in 2012.
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