BofA plans to further reduce mortgage servicing portfolio: CEO

Bank of America Corp plans to reduce its mortgage servicing portfolio to about 6 million loans, down from about 8 million now and 12 million at its peak, Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said Tuesday.

The No. 2 U.S. bank by assets has been reducing its role in the mortgage business after taking huge losses on its disastrous 2008 Countrywide Financial acquisition. Servicing mortgage loans - collecting payments and assisting delinquent homeowners - has grown more expensive in the housing bust and requires more capital under new international rules.

"We continue to look at transactions," Moynihan said at an investor conference in New York. "We have been selling servicing in relatively sizable chunks to the market." (Reporting By Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, N.C.; editing by John Wallace)