Bank of America has reported a quarterly profit, compared with a year-earlier loss due to a multi-billion dollar settlement with the US government over mortgages.
The second biggest US bank by assets said its non-interest expenses declined 31% to $13.81 billion in the third quarter.
"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,' the bank's chief executive Brian Moynihan said
Bank of America's non-interest income, which includes revenue from equity and bonds trading and mortgage banking, rose 1.6% to $11.17 billion.
The bank, which has paid more than $70 billion in legal expenses since 2008, said its legal costs fell for the third quarter in a row, dropping to $231m from $6 billion a year earlier.
The lender reported net income of $4.07 billion, or 37 cents per share, for the quarter ended September 30.
The bank had a loss of $470m, or 4 cents per share, the same time last year as it took a $5.6 billion charge related to the mortgage settlement.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 33 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
