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AUSTIN—Bank of America Corp. says it will create jobs in Texas over the next two years and comply with a state agreement signed by Countrywide Financial Corp., now that the two firms have merged and the bank has assumed the mortgage company’s job contract.

“Bank of America has adopted the agreement. We’re committed to meeting the terms of that agreement,” said company spokesman Dan Frahm.

The Texas Enterprise Fund contract agreed to in December 2004 calls for Countrywide to create 7,500 total new jobs in Texas by the end of 2010 in exchange for $20 million in taxpayer money. It’s one of the largest of the enterprise fund, an account overseen by Gov. Rick Perry.

Countrywide repeatedly has said it plans to fulfill the deal, even after announcing last year it would eliminate 10,000 to 12,000 jobs nationwide amid the mortgage industry meltdown. It wouldn’t say how many layoffs would occur in Texas, where 20 percent of its work force was located. That was before its acquisition by Bank of America.

Bank of America completed its purchase of Countrywide July 1, becoming the nation’s leading mortgage originator.

Countrywide has been under scrutiny by a federal grand jury investigating several mortgage lenders and is the target of state lawsuits alleging it misled borrowers and got them to take on loans they couldn’t afford. Connecticut’s attorney general announced such a lawsuit Wednesday. Similar lawsuits have been filed in California and Illinois.

Bank of America said little about the Countrywide job contract with Texas when the companies’ merger was announced months ago. In June, Bank of America said it is eliminating 7,500 jobs from its combined mortgage, home equity and insurance divisions. It isn’t yet known whether any of those job cuts over the coming two years will occur in Texas, but it’s possible some will be here, Frahm said.

Even so, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank expects to meet the Texas job creation targets, he said.

Perry’s spokeswoman, Allison Castle, said Countrywide—and now Bank of America—is next due to report its job creation progress in January. She said the company has assured the governor’s office that the job agreement will be met.

An Associated Press review of the Texas Enterprise Fund last year found that some of large corporations receiving grants from the account, including Countrywide, have laid off employees even after promising to add new ones.

State officials said as long as a company meets the long-term job creation levels set out in its contract it isn’t penalized for layoffs along the way.

Countrywide reported in January it had created a total of 4,656 new jobs in the state since entering the enterprise fund agreement, exceeding the 4,000 required to that point. The average salary for the positions was about $56,000.

If the company fails to meet its job creation mark in any given year, it could be required to repay the state $854 for every job not created, according to the contract. It must maintain the 7,500 new jobs until at least December 2011.

Castle said the jobs must be newly created positions that meet the wage levels specified in the contract; existing Bank of America jobs can’t be counted toward Countrywide’s commitment.

Countrywide had a total of 11,700 jobs in Texas as of its last state report in January. Bank of America had about 13,500 jobs in Texas in 2007, Frahm said.

Perry has talked up job creation as one of his biggest accomplishments since taking office in December 2000. He urged the Legislature to create the enterprise fund in 2003. Lawmakers granted the request and allocated $295 million for the account. They added another $182 million in 2005 and $200 million in 2007.