Bank of America Corp. could receive more aid from the government as it tries to absorb Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., according to three people familiar with the deal, Bloomberg reported.

Details could be released when Bank of America announces its quarterly results on Jan. 20. It is expected to post its first quarterly loss in 17 years.

The largest bank by assets has struggled to absorb Merrill Lynch. It nearly abandoned the deal in December because of Merrill’s worse-than-expected results, but the government insisted that the deal go through to prevent further turmoil in the financial system, according to people familiar with the matter.

The $19.4 billion Merrill Lynch acquisition is one of $129 billion in acquisitions Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis has made since he took over in 2001. With the purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp., another money-losing company, last summer, analysts have said that Lewis may have overextended the company.

As part of the government aid package, the Treasury Department may absorb some of Merrill’s asset losses and cap the bank’s liability.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced that its profits fell 76 percent in the fourth quarter as rising defaults and an economic downturn caused the second-largest U.S. bank by assets to write down $2.9 billion of its assets and boost reserves.

Net income in the fourth quarter was $702 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with $2.97 billion, or 86 cents per share, a year earlier. Without a $1.3 billion gain from closing a joint venture and “risk-management results,” the company would have lost 28 cents per share.