Bank of America will not look to make major acquisitions in the US this year but is targeting growth overseas, new chief executive Brian Moynihan said in an interview on Bloomberg Television yesterday.

BofA will be “more important” in international markets this year  as the firm expands its wealth management, investment banking and capital markets  businesses overseas, Mr Moynihan said.

The bank, which last year completed its purchase of Merrill Lynch, became the world's biggest wealth management business as a result, although as yet it remains a predominantly domestic player, with UBS arguably still the world's largest international wealth firm.

The bank is will focus on execution of existing businesses domestically, and not acquisitions, Mr Moynihan said. BofA is forecasting global growth of more than 4 per cent in 2010, and growth in US gross domestic product  above 3 per cent.

The impact of the recession is wearing off, said Mr Moynihan, who is starting his first week as CEO after replacing Ken Lewis on 1 January.

“The worst is behind us in the sense of credit,” Mr Moynihan said. “As an industry, we over-lent and customers over-borrowed, and that led to a fairly significant bubble. If you could rewind the clock, you wouldn’t do those things again.”

Despite admitting that bankers have “caused a lot of damage” to the economy, Mr Moynihan  made clear he opposed any moves to reimpose sections of the Glass-Stegall Act, which separated commercial and investment banking.

And in an essay published yesterday in the Charlotte Observer, Mr Moynihan said he considered his goal of making sure the bank never again needed government help “a solemn duty”.

Last month, Bank of America repaid $45 billion in funds it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

In the process, the bank said it may have reduced income available to common shareholders in the fourth quarter by $4.1 billion.

As a result, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said BofA may report its third loss in the past five quarters, amounting to 50 cents a share, later this month.

In addition, the bank needs to reduce the loss rate on credit cards, which ranked highest among the nation’s six biggest card companies in November, Mr Moynihan said.

Bank of America’s card defaults are “still very high,” he said, adding that he is “reworking” the consumer lending business.

 Innovation in capital markets “probably got ahead of the ability” to manage the risks, Mr Moynihan said.