Bank of America Money Market Fund down 70% & closed

The Columbia Strategic Cash Portfolio fund for institutional investors that was worth $40 billion only a couple months currently has about $12 billion in assets, Charlotte-based bank said.

The loss is related to the subprime-mortgage crisis that has rippled across the globe, Bank of America spokesman Jon Goldstein said.

"The conditions have really weakened the performance across the industry, including this one," Goldstein said.

Goldstein denied a CNBC report that the fund had been frozen, saying that clients were being offered the option of cash redemptions or of switching their assets into other Columbia-managed funds.