Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said the largest U.S. bank wants to start repaying $45 billion of federal bailout money next month, after completing a government stress test, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.

Lewis had previously said he hoped to pay back all of the money Bank of America took from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program as soon as later this year, without saying when repayment would begin.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank took $20 billion of the bailout Monday as part of a January rescue in which the government agreed to share losses on $118 billion of troubled assets. About three-quarters of these assets came from Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America bought on January 1.

Bank of America shares rose 76 cents, or 10.6 percent, to $7.91 in morning trading, as U.S. bank shares rallied broadly.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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