Bank of America losses grow to $5.2 billion

The nation's biggest bank said Wednesday that repaying funds from TARP, or the Troubled Asset Relief Program, hurt profits by $4 billion during the quarter. Not including the one-time charge, the company would have reported a loss of $194 million.

Still, Bank of America's latest results were worse than Wall Street was anticipating. The company said it lost 60 cents a share while analysts were expecting a loss of 52 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Bank of America's results were also worse when compared to a year ago. The Charlotte, N.C.-based lender lost $2.4 billion, or 48 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Bank of America shares climbed 1% at the start of Wednesday's trading session.

Brian Moynihan, the bank's newly-installed CEO, characterized the company's latest results as "disappointing". Moynihan replaced Ken Lewis, who agreed to step down following a wave of criticism from shareholders about the bank's controversial purchase of investment bank Merrill Lynch at the height of the financial crisis, earlier this year.