2005 Summary Annual Report: Form 10-K: Note 15 - Regulatory Requirements and Restrictions

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) requires the Corporation’s banking subsidiaries to maintain reserve balances based on a percentage of certain deposits. Average daily reserve balances required by the FRB were $6.4 billion and $6.3 billion for 2005 and 2004. Currency and coin residing in branches and cash vaults (vault cash) are used to partially satisfy the reserve requirement. The average daily reserve balances, in excess of vault cash, held with the Federal Reserve Bank amounted to $361 million and $627 million for 2005 and 2004.

The primary source of funds for cash distributions by the Corporation to its shareholders is dividends received from its banking subsidiaries. Bank of America, N.A., Bank of America, N.A. (USA) and Fleet National Bank declared and paid dividends of $7.4 billion, $1.9 billion and $750 million, respectively, for 2005 to the parent. On June 13, 2005, Fleet National Bank merged with and into Bank of America, N.A., with Bank of America, N.A. as the surviving entity. In 2006, Bank of America, N.A. and Bank of America, N.A. (USA) can declare and pay dividends to the parent of $12.1 billion and $879 million plus an additional amount equal to its net profits for 2006, as defined by statute, up to the date of any such dividend declaration. The other subsidiary national banks can initiate aggregate dividend payments in 2006 of $44 million plus an additional amount equal to their net profits for 2006, as defined by statute, up to the date of any such dividend declaration. The amount of dividends that each subsidiary bank may declare in a calendar year without approval by the OCC is the subsidiary bank’s net profits for that year combined with its net retained profits, as defined, for the preceding two years.

The FRB, the OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the Agencies) have issued regulatory capital guidelines for U.S. banking organizations. Failure to meet the capital requirements can initiate certain mandatory and discretionary actions by regulators that could have a material effect on the Corporation’s financial statements. At December 31, 2005 and 2004, the Corporation, Bank of America, N.A. and Bank of America, N.A. (USA) were classified as well-capitalized under this regulatory framework. There have been no conditions or events since December 31, 2005 that management believes have changed the Corporation’s, Bank of America, N.A.’s and Bank of America, N.A. (USA)’s capital classifications.

The regulatory capital guidelines measure capital in relation to the credit and market risks of both on and off-balance sheet items using various risk weights. Under the regulatory capital guidelines, Total Capital consists of three tiers of capital. Tier 1 Capital includes Common Shareholders’ Equity, Trust Securities, minority interests and qualifying Preferred Stock, less Goodwill and other adjustments. Tier 2 Capital consists of Preferred Stock not qualifying as Tier 1 Capital, mandatory convertible debt, limited amounts of subordinated debt, other qualifying term debt, the allowance for credit losses up to 1.25 percent of risk-weighted assets and other adjustments. Tier 3 Capital includes subordinated debt that is unsecured, fully paid, has an original maturity of at least two years, is not redeemable before maturity without prior approval by the FRB and includes a lock-in clause precluding payment of either interest or principal if the payment would cause the issuing bank’s risk-based capital ratio to fall or remain below the required minimum. Tier 3 Capital can only be used to satisfy the Corporation’s market risk capital requirement and may not be used to support its credit risk requirement. At December 31, 2005 and 2004, the Corporation had no subordinated debt that qualified as Tier 3 Capital.

Certain corporate sponsored trust companies which issue trust preferred securities (Trust Securities) are not consolidated under FIN 46R. As a result, the Trust Securities are not included on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. On March 1, 2005, the FRB issued Risk-Based Capital Standards: Trust Preferred Securities and the Definition of Capital (the Final Rule) which allows Trust Securities to continue to qualify as Tier 1 Capital with revised quantitative limits that would be effective after a five-year transition period. As a result, Trust Securities are included in Tier 1 Capital.

The FRB’s Final Rule limits restricted core capital elements to 15 percent for internationally active bank holding companies. Internationally active bank holding companies are those with consolidated assets greater than $250 billion or on-balance sheet exposure greater than $10 billion. At December 31, 2005, our restricted core capital elements comprised 16.6 percent of total core capital elements. In addition, the FRB revised the qualitative standards for capital instruments included in regulatory capital. We expect to be fully compliant with the revised limits prior to the implementation date of March 31, 2009.

On July 28, 2004, the FRB and other regulatory agencies issued the Final Capital Rule for Consolidated Asset-backed Commercial Paper Program Assets (the Final Rule). The Final Rule allows companies to exclude from risk-weighted assets, the assets of consolidated asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) conduits when calculating Tier 1 and Total Risk-based Capital ratios. The Final Rule also requires that liquidity commitments provided by the Corporation to ABCP conduits, whether consolidated or not, be included in the capital calculations. The Final Rule was effective September 30, 2004. There was no material impact to Tier 1 and Total Risk-based Capital as a result of the adoption of this rule.

To meet minimum, adequately-capitalized regulatory requirements, an institution must maintain a Tier 1 Capital ratio of four percent and a Total Capital ratio of eight percent. A well-capitalized institution must generally maintain capital ratios 200 bps higher than the minimum guidelines. The risk-based capital rules have been further supplemented by a leverage ratio, defined as Tier 1 Capital divided by adjusted quarterly average Total Assets, after certain adjustments. The leverage ratio guidelines establish a minimum of three percent. Banking organizations must maintain a leverage capital ratio of at least five percent to be classified as well-capitalized. As of December 31, 2005, the Corporation was classified as well-capitalized for regulatory purposes, the highest classification.

Net Unrealized Gains (Losses) on AFS Debt Securities, Net Unrealized Gains on AFS Marketable Equity Securities and the Net Unrealized Gains (Losses) on Derivatives included in Shareholders’ Equity at December 31, 2005 and 2004, are excluded from the calculations of Tier 1 Capital and leverage ratios. The Total Capital ratio excludes all of the above with the exception of up to 45 percent of Net Unrealized Gains on AFS Marketable Equity Securities.

In June 2004, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a new set of risk-based capital standards (Basel II) with the intent of more closely aligning regulatory capital requirements with underlying risk. In August 2003, the U.S. regulatory agencies drafted the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish a comparable rule for large U.S. financial institutions. The final rule, which is expected to be issued during the second quarter of 2006, will provide us with clarification as to the requirements under U.S. regulations.

Several of our international units will begin implementing Basel II locally during 2006, with full implementation by 2007. U.S. regulatory agencies have delayed implementation of Basel II for the consolidated entity until 2008. During 2008, we will operate in a parallel testing environment, where current regulatory capital measures will be utilized simultaneously with the new rules. However, in 2009 and until at least 2011, the U.S. is expected to impose floors (limits) on capital reductions when compared to current measures.