JPM and BAC to write down $3 billion in loans: report

Taxis pass the Bank of America branch in New York's Times Square June 30, 2005. Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase are expected to disclose losses of about $3 billion in mortgage securities and leveraged loans when they report earnings this month, the Financial Times reported, citing an analyst.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are expected to disclose losses of about $3 billion in mortgage securities and leveraged loans when they report earnings this month, the Financial Times reported, citing an analyst.

JPMorgan is likely to report mark-to-market losses on leveraged loans of about $1.4 billion and an additional $700 million in write-downs of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, according to Howard Mason, analyst with Sanford Bernstein, the paper reported.

Mason estimated Bank of America will take write-downs of $700 million for leveraged loans and mortgage write-downs of $300 million, the paper said.

Other banks have already taken losses on the value of their holdings in mortgage-backed securities and leveraged loans.

Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank, took a pretax write-down of $1.4 billion as of the end of the third quarter.

Bear Stearns said last month it was writing down its $7.6 billion portfolio by about $250 million, or 3.2 percent. Morgan Stanley wrote down its $31 billion portfolio by $726 million, or 2.3 percent.

The losses by the banks were the result of credit turmoil in recent months that drove down the values of mortgage and loan-related securities.