Countrywide swings to loss

Countrywide Financial Corp, the mortgage lender being acquired by Bank of America Corp, posted a surprisingly large $893.1 mln first-quarter loss, as it took more than $3 bln of charges for write-downs and bad loans.
The loss equaled $1.60 per share, and compared with a profit of $434 mln, or 72 cents, a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected a loss of 12 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Countrywide has lost more than $2.5 bln in the nine months ending March 31. Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, set aside $1.5 bln for bad loans in the quarter, 10 times as much as a year earlier. It also wrote down an additional $1.5 bln for other securities and claims. Calabasas, California-based Countrywide said about one in 11 borrowers has fallen behind on home loan payments, nearly twice as many as a year earlier. It also said more than one in three subprime borrowers is delinquent. The results may be Countrywide's last as an independent company.

Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank agreed in January to swap 0.1822 of a share for each Countrywide share, valuing Countrywide on Monday at about $4 bln. Bob Stickler, a Bank of America spokesman, declined to comment on Countrywide's results, but said the merger remains on track to close in the third quarter.