Bank of America profit quadruples as expenses, provisions fall

Bank of America Corp's first-quarter profit quadrupled as expenses fell and it set aside less money to cover bad loans.

Net income rose to $2.62 billion, or 20 cents per share, from $653 million, or 3 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter, when earnings were affected by a host of one-time items including a $4.8 billion charge related to the value of its debt.

(Reporting By Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, North Carolina and Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)