Bank of America Corp reported a slim third-quarter profit as a legal settlement and other previously disclosed charges dented its bottom line.

The second-biggest U.S. bank on Wednesday posted net earnings of $340 million, or nil per share, compared with $6.2 billion, or 56 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier, when the sale of assets and accounting benefits boosted earnings.

Bank of America last month agreed to pay $2.4 billion to settle claims that it hid crucial information from shareholders when it bought investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co at the height of the financial crisis. The bank denied the allegations.

Analysts' average earnings estimate was a loss of 7 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the results were comparable.

Bank of America previously said the settlement, a UK tax charge and an accounting charge related to the value of its debt would reduce earnings by 28 cents per share.

The results show that Chief Executive Brian Moynihan still has a lot of work to do to turn around a company haunted by acquisitions forged during the financial crisis.

To boost profits, the bank last year launched a broad cost-cutting program that aims to eliminate $8 billion in annual expenses and 30,000 jobs.

(Reporting By Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, N.C.; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)