S&P affirms Bank of America

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed its ratings on Bank of America Corp., including the A+/A-1 counterparty credit rating.

The outlook remains negative.

The affirmation follows the company's fourth-quarter earnings results and the announcement that it will receive $24 billion in capital from the U.S. Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program and up to $118 billion in government guarantees under a separate loss-sharing agreement applicable to selected capital-markets exposures.

S&P said this support will help mitigate the losses that Bank of America assumed following its Jan. 1 acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. The agency believes that Merrill's exposures will probably cause sizable incremental writedowns, and integration risks remain a concern.

Aside from issues related to the Merrill Lynch acquisition, ratings also incorporate S&P's concerns about Bank of America's asset quality. The agency said the fourth-quarter results, which included a $1.8 billion loss, highlight the company's exposure to the continued challenging operating environment that S&P believes will endure through 2009 and possibly beyond.

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