Bank of America Corp will not turn to new share offerings to boost capital, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said on Wednesday, in an effort to placate investors angry over a recent 20 percent drop in the company's shares.

The CEO's comment underscores the bank's limited options as it wrestles with mortgage losses and higher capital needs.

Moynihan, who took over as CEO in the beginning of 2010, said the bank will not issue new shares after having issued so many after the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. Bank of America now has more than 10 billion shares outstanding, compared with 4.5 billion in mid-2008.

The comments reassured investors. Earlier in the day, the bank's shares traded down as much as 11.3 percent, but soon after Moynihan's comments, shares were down 5.1 percent to $7.21. The bank's shares have fallen about 24 percent over the last week.

Moynihan was speaking on a conference call with more than 6,000 investors and analysts that was organized by Fairholme Capital Management, one of the bank's biggest investors.

Analysts in June estimated that the bank could need to boost capital by $50 billion to comply with new regulatory requirements. Moynihan said last month that the bank could generate the new capital it needs through earnings.

The bank has other ways to improve its capital position, including selling assets, said Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson.

As we look at capital and growing capital beyond the end of 2012, we have a number of levers that we will look to continue to utilize, Thompson said.

But the bank may face legal liabilities from mortgages and mortgage securities that are difficult for investors to forecast.

Chris Gamaitoni, an analyst at Compass Point Research & Trading, wrote in a report on Wednesday that in the worst case scenario, the bank could have to buy back some $62.2 billion of bad mortgages from investors. That figure is about $44.4 billion more than the funds the bank has already set aside to cover the liability.

(Reporting by Joe Rauch and Ben Berkowitz. Writing by Dan Wilchins. Editing by Robert MacMillan and Gerald E. McCormick)

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