WASHINGTON, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Bank of America said Wednesday it has raised almost 26 billion U.S. dollars since the stress test results were announced early this month and is well on its way to reaching the 33.9-billion-dollar target for a capital buffer set by the Federal Reserve.

    The U.S. banking giant had taken a number of steps to raise the required capital, according to a statement on its website.

    The company said last week that it raised 13.5 billion dollars through issuing 1.25 billion shares in an at-the-market common stock offering. It also has sold part of its holdings in China Construction Bank, generating a capital gain, the statement said.

    It has entered into agreement with certain holders of perpetual preferred shares to exchange their holdings of approximately 5.9 billion dollars of preferred stock into approximately 436 million shares of common stock.

    "Combined, these initiatives have raised almost 26 billion dollars, or 76 percent of the total, toward the (Federal Reserve) buffer of 33.9 billion dollars," it said.

    Bank of America, the No. 1 financial institution in the United States, was among the nation's 19 largest banks that recently underwent "stress tests" by the government to determine their capacity to withstand more severe shocks from the global financial and economic crisis.

    The test results unveiled May 7 showed that 10 of the 19 banks needed to raise about 75 billion dollars in new capital to withstand possible future losses.

    Bank of America was among the 10 and needs to raise 33.9 billion dollars in capital.

    Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, it has received 45 billion dollars in bailout cash from the federal government since the financial crisis outbreak.