Bank of America Corp. has brought in an outside law firm to help examine a soured lending arrangement that led to a $292 million charge in last year’s fourth quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.

The losses sprang from financing involving troubled South African firmSteinhoff International Holdings NV, the people said. Bank of America is trying to figure out if the losses, which surfaced at many big global banks, could somehow have been avoided, the people said.

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