Profits at Bank of America (BoA) rose 16.8% to $10.8bn (€8.5bn) for 2003, thanks to strong performance in consumer lending and earnings from corporate and investment banking, which topped more than $2bn for the first time.

Like its arch-rival JP Morgan, which has just unveiled a $58bn takeover of Bank One, BoA has been pushing to diversify its revenues so that it is not over-reliant on fees from investment banking.