Bank of America raises $5.9 billion reaching the total of $26 billion so far

On Wednesday Bank of America announced that it raised $5.9 billion via the conversion of preferred shares for common stock, that appeared to be a part of its plan to support its capital base.

As part of its "stress tests" of 19 banks, the federal government said Bank of America more than others needed additional cash to oppose a potentially deepening economy, so it should raise $33.9 billion in capital to bolster its reserves. 

Uniting with the sale of a portion of its stake in China Construction Bank and recent common stock sales, BofA raised $26 billion as for now. 

BofA exchanged 436 million common shares of stock for the preferred shares, and the bank also reported it is able to issue up to 564 million more common shares via additional preferred-share exchanges.

As it’s known, last week, BofA raised $13.5 billion in cash through the sale of 1.25 billion shares of common stock in an "at the market" offering, that means shares are sold in batches at market prices instead of all at once at one share price like a typical offer.

Shares of Bank of America lost 7 cents to close at $10.91 Wednesday.