Bank of America reports $4.1bn profit

Bank of America has reported a net profit of $4.07bn (£2.65bn) for the three months to the end of September against a loss of $470m a year earlier.

It comes a year after the bank reached a $5.6bn settlement with the US government over mortgage loans extended to US homebuyers before 2008.

Profits at its consumer banking division, the bank's largest unit, rose 5% from a year ago to $1.8bn.

Residential mortgage lending rose by 13% to $17bn.

"The key drivers of our business - deposit taking and lending to both our consumer and corporate clients - moved in the right direction... and our trading results on behalf of clients remained fairly stable in challenging capital markets conditions," said Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan.

The bank, which has paid more than $70bn in legal expenses since 2008, said its legal costs fell for the third quarter in a row, dropping to $231m from $6bn a year earlier.

Wells Fargo

Separately, US bank Wells Fargo reported its first profits rise for three quarters, with the results helped by its acquisition of commercial loans from General Electric earlier this year.

Net income edged up 0.65% from a year ago to $5.44bn in the three months to the end of September. with revenues up 3% to $21.9bn.

However, its mortgage banking revenue fell 2.7% to $1.59bn.

Earlier this year, Wells Fargo bought a portion of GE's commercial real estate loans worth $9bn, which helped to boost profits in the latest quarter.

On Tuesday, the bank said it would buy a $30bn portfolio of commercial loans and leases from GE.