Bank of America announced Friday that it has set up a new operational division to deal with problem loans and resolve investors’ mortgage repurchase claims.

The newly formed unit, which the company has labeled Legacy Asset Servicing, will service all defaulted loans and discontinued residential mortgage products. It will be led by Terry Laughlin.

Laughlin will oversee the bank’s mortgage modification and foreclosure programs, in addition to his existing duties of resolving residential mortgage representation and warranties repurchase claims.

In addition, Laughlin is charged with leading BofA’s borrower outreach program to include more than 400 housing rescue fairs in 2011, building additional homeowner assistance centers in communities across the country, and expanding partnerships with nonprofits.

The decision to establish a new, separate division to handle the company’s problem loans came out of the North Carolina bank’s very recent, and very public, robo-signing

quandary, which prompted reviews of hundreds of thousands of case files and a nationwide suspension of all Bank of America foreclosures and REO sales.

The bank said in a statement that the issues that came to light in September and October of last year led the company to initiate a “self-assessment of default servicing.”

“While the review of the foreclosure process found that the underlying grounds for foreclosure decisions has been accurate, Bank of America implemented a series of improvements – including staffing, customer impact, and quality controls,” the company said.

Barbara Desoer, Bank of America Home Loans president, will continue to oversee the servicing of the company’s more than 12 million mortgage customers who remain current on their accounts, as well as the mortgage origination side of the business.

“This alignment allows two strong executives and their teams to continue to lead the strongest home loans business in the industry, while providing greater focus on resolving legacy mortgage issues,” said Brian Moynihan, BofA’s president and CEO. “We believe this will best serve customers – both those seeking homeownership and those who face mortgage challenges – as well as our shareholders and the communities we serve.”

Bank of America also said Friday that it is exiting the reverse mortgage origination business, citing “competing demands and priorities that require investments and resources be focused on other key areas of our business.”

Bank of America Home Loans will continue to serve the needs of existing reverse mortgage customers and those with loans in process.