Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) on Monday said it had net profit of 4.2 billion dollars in the first quarter, nearly triple that of a year ago, on record revenue of 36 billion dollars.

The robust earnings were boosted by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) 's acquisition of Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch, which contributed more than three billion dollars to the government-rescued bank's bottom line.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) , the largest US bank by assets, said it had paid 402 million dollars in dividends to the US government.