Bank of America Corp. Chief Financial Officer Joe Price announced at an investor conference today that the nation’s second-largest bank would take a $3 billion debt-related write-down in the fourth quarter as a result of worsened conditions in housing and mortgage lending, the Associated Press reported. The bank also plans to set more money aside for potential losses, even though it considers the losses “manageable.”

The company joins several financial service companies that have lowered the value of their lending portfolios. Last week, Wachovia Corp. marked down the value of its loan-back securities by about $1.1 billion, Citigroup Inc. expects to write down as much as $11 billion and Morgan Stanley plans a write-down of up to $6 billion in the fourth quarter. Mortgage-related writedowns across the banking industry totaled more than $40 billion in the third quarter.

Though Bank of America doesn’t directly offer subprime loans, the value of its collateralized debt obligations, which are often backed in part by subprime mortgages, has fallen dramatically.