Bank of America profit falls on pandemic woes

(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp reported a 15.8% drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday, hit by higher provisions for credit losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Net income applicable to common shareholders fell to $4.44 billion, or 51 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $5.27 billion, or 56 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a profit of 49 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. It was not immediately clear if the estimates were comparable.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Imani Moise in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)