BofA board OKs share buyback

Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday that its board had approved a plan to buy back as many as 75 million of its shares, spending as much as $3.75 billion.

The repurchase plan would cover the next 12 to 18 months.

Based on Wednesday's closing price of $33.44, it would cost the Charlotte, N.C., company about $2.51 billion to repurchase 75 million shares.

Bank of America had about 4.45 billion shares of common stock outstanding at the end of the second quarter.

The repurchase program, along with a quarterly dividend of 64 cents a share, comes as most banks face mounting losses from defaults in their loan portfolios, especially loans tied to residential real estate.