Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. lender, will post a $600 million pretax writedown in the fourth quarter as it redeems $2 billion of trust preferred securities tied to its 2009 acquisition of Merrill Lynch, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The securities, which pay holders 7 percent to 7.28 percent, will no longer count toward the bank’s regulatory capital starting next year, the bank said. Banks may start redeeming these securities early because the Dodd-Frank Act phased out their treatment as regulatory capital. The fourth-quarter charge represents a lump-sum writedown on the securities as the bank accelerates their redemption.
