According to recent earnings report shared by Bank of America, during the first three months of the current year, the financial services major has earned a profit of $3.4 billion. The latest results mark a turnaround from the loss, which was reported by the bank a year ago, when much higher legal costs were posted by it.

During the first quarter, the bank reported lower revenue since its income dropped in four of its five business segments. However, it also posted much lower legal expenses compared to a year ago. During that time, an agreement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency led to adverse results on one time charge.

Litigation expenses of the bank hit $370 million for the first three months of this year, down from $6 billion during the same period last year. Profit of 27 cents per share in the first quarter was less than estimated by Wall Street experts at 29 cents per share. The bank suffered a loss of $276 million, or 5 cents per share in the first quarter of 2014.

The shares of the bank dropped 18 cents, or 1%, to close on Wednesday at $15.64. According to Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan, Terry Laughlin, an expert executive who earlier ran mortgage servicing operations, will help in the bank's attempts to put forward its annual capital plan to the Federal Reserve in September.

In March, the Fed approved Bank of America's request to acquire $4 billion in common stock again as part of annual stress tests for big banks, however said that the bank must also deal with ‘deficiencies’ and ‘weaknesses’ in its capital-planning process.

Last year, the bank received Fed approval to increase its quarterly dividend to 5 cents per share. However, it later revealed that it had got the wrong idea about its capital ratios.