Bank of America’s global corporate and investment banking unit returned to profitability as the pace of writedowns slowed in the first quarter, but net profits fell 92% from the same period last year to $115m (€73m).

The US bank today announced a further $1.9bn in writedowns during the first quarter, following the $5.3bn it wrote down related to collateralized debt obligations during the final three months of last year that plunged its corporate and investment bank to a $2.8bn net loss.