Moody's Investors Services put its junk-level ratings for securities issued by Bank of America Corp. on watch for upgrading, saying that capital-raising efforts had reduced near-term risks that the banking giant would be forced to suspend dividends.
The ratings agency said Bank of America had succeeded in raising sufficient capital to satisfy government requirements through the issuance of new common shares, the sale of assets and a series of exchanges of preferred securities. It has added more than $32.4 billion in common equity and will reduce its annual preferred dividend by about $1 billion, according to Moody's.
