Ever since 1991, Bank of America Corp posted its first quarterly loss, hours before an emergency government aid of $20 billion!

Close on the heels of the government's announcement of helping the bank - the biggest in US by assets - absorb its January 1 acquisition of the distraught brokerage Merrill Lynch, the bank posted a fourth-quarter loss of $1.79 billion, or 48 cents a share, as against the net earnings a year back. The figures do not include the $15.3 billion in losses at Merrill.

About the Merrill deal, Bank of America's CEO Kenneth D. Lewis said: "We just thought it was in the best interest of our company and our stockholders and the country to move forward with the original terms and timing" for the buyout of Merrill. Lewis added that renegotiations would have added to the cost; and the government had promised financial aid in "recognition of the position Bank of America was in."

The new aid to the bank will be provided, in exchange for preferred stock, by the US Treasury, which jointly with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and the Federal Reserve, has agreed to limit the bank's potential losses on $118 billion in tainted assets - a commitment to "support financial-market stability" being a part of the deal.

Meanwhile, with the situation Bank of America is in, analyst Paul Miller - who has an "underperform" rating on the bank - opines that its management team has "lost credibility."