Oct 15 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc is seeking permission from the Federal Reserve to boost its stake in Bank of America Corp above the 10% level, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Shares of BofA were up 3% after the report came out.
Berkshire, which has a 9.96% stake in BofA, filed an application with the Fed in recent weeks making a variety of assurances that it will passively invest in the bank, the report said bloom.bg/2ISBQEW citing a copy of the application provided by the regulator.
Ownership above the 10% level attracts increased regulatory scrutiny and the Federal Reserve only allows investors to take double-digit stakes on the assurance the buyer would not try to force a controlling influence.
Berkshire’s biggest stock market commitment remains in financial services -- it is the largest shareholder in American Express Co, Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo and has a significant stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co.
In 2017, Berkshire pulled reut.rs/2MIl8cn a similar application to boost its stake in Wells Fargo after the bank was beset by a scandal over its creation of unauthorized customer accounts.
Bank of America is slated to report its third-quarter results on Wednesday. (Reporting by Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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