bofa

The BofA boss deserves much of the criticism that has come his way.

But thanks to BofA-ML's guidelines, now anybody can engage in a bit of sleuthing, Muddy Waters style.

BofA said it had not sold any CCB shares, but declined to comment further.

Bank of America (BofA) has put off a juicy long-term deal with the New York Yankees and extended its existing contract for a year.

Three institutional investors have urged BofA to look beyond internal candidates, according to people familiar with the matter.

Asked why the bank did not use Merrill Lynch, the BofA spokesperson said: "We did it as a party to party transaction. "

These qualities stood him in good stead as he ascended first Fleet and then BofA.

BofA said the bank "intends to remain a long-term shareholder and strategic shareholder with China Construction Bank. "

He would be responsible for planning and executing the merger of Merrill's banking and trading business with that of BofA.

A person close to BofA said selling more of the CBC stake would have made little difference to the bank's capital position.

Among big banks, BofA has made it a speciality, becoming the "official bank" of several sports and forming partnerships with several teams.

BofA said the move was part of its plan "to reduce its reliance on government support and return to normal market funding" .

However, people close to the situation said that the indicative offers tabled by potential bidders had not matched BofA's expectations.

At BofA's request, most of the money would be paid out in cash later in the month, before the deal closed.

Merrill also wielded tremendous clout in the capital markets, where BofA was just a small player.

He said Mr Moynihan has only been in charge of BofA's retail operations for two months and had not previously run a retail bank.

So BofA isn't going to charge their regular customers as they planned, they are going to prey on the poorest of the poor.

BofA's share price has been battered this year amid worries that it had inadequate capital.

Of course, BofA is unlikely to sell such a huge holding in one go, and would need approval for any sales from Chinese authorities.

"The market is gobsmacked that BofA could have done this without mandating Merrill, " a banker at a rival house said.

But BofA shareholders are not the only ones potentially short-changed by the deal.

Fleming had been the prime mover behind the BofA merger, and was well liked in Charlotte.

Citigroup and Bank of America (BofA) posted thumping quarterly losses. Morgan Stanley eked out a modest gain.

In collateralized-debt obligations alone, Merrill and BofA face estimated settlement costs of up to $5 billion.

It approached several firms, including BofA and Morgan Stanley, but only BofA felt able to conduct the necessary due diligence in time.

BofA research says that in the past, when it has fallen that low a stock market 'correction' has usually followed in a matter of weeks.

CCB said that BofA's sale reflected "its own needs" and would not affect its business or development.

BofA's desire to repay its troubled assets relief programme funds as early as November will surprise the market.

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' founder, claims to have five gigabytes of material from a BofA executive's computer hard drive.

Mr Cuomo alleges that BofA then threatened to break off the deal as leverage to secure $20bn in taxpayer money.

Paying back TARP achieves one of his long-standing goals (though the government will still hold warrants in BofA).

That may make it easier for BofA to reap the strategic benefits of its messy tie-up with Merrill Lynch.

BofA's stake purchase comes as western investors consider whether to monetise their paper gains in a number of mainland lenders.

If BofA fails to satisfy the Federal Reserve Board, the lender will have to issue additional common shares, diluting its per-share earnings.

But a funny thing happened on the way back to a sound banking system: last week both Citi and BofA announced losses in the third quarter.

The BofA stake, once valued at $20bn, is now believed to be worth several billion dollars less, according to bankers.

BofA's investment-banking and global-markets units were top performers, fueling the company's overall net income of $6. 3 billion.

"Moreover, BofA may also consider selling its stake, or part thereof, to institutional investors rather than doing block trades. "

The sheer size of BofA, with its $2, 300bn in assets, means that it cannot escape the impact of US malaise.

As a concession, in a non-public side-agreement, BofA allowed Merrill to pay out bonuses of about $4bn before the deal closed.

BofA is now over the limit and may now expand only by growing internally.

By selling to BofA, Merrill's executives knew that the days of multi-million-dollar bonus payments would come to an end.

BofA has been the slowest of the big banks to ease the terms of its loans, the Treasury revealed on August 4th.

If true, that would mean BofA might have left some $500m on the table.

Citi is much less exposed to its home market than is its arch-rival, Bank of America (BofA).

Both JPMorgan and Bank of America are close to the cap following recent acquisitions.

Still, Lewis told listeners in a conference call that he was happy that Thain had joined the BofA management team.

It requested a further $20bn at the end of December as the scale of Merrill's losses eclipsed BofA's initial forecasts.

This week BofA hit back, publicly denying analysis and rumours published on a number of financial blogs.

He said that BofA would focus on key markets such as China, Japan, India and Australia and build scale with further hires.

And these blowout revenues are partly down to increased market share following big mergers, like BofA's acquisition of Countrywide.

BofA's investment-banking acquisitions of Robertson Stephens and Montgomery, two boutiques, were disastrous.

BofA received pledges of $25bn in support in October as part of the US government's plan to restore stability to the banking system.

After that comment, BofA pared back its proprietary trading activities and sold its prime brokerage business serving hedge funds.

Indeed, the Wall Street Journal reports that BofA and Merrill are in merger talks.

He was slow to inform BofA, or his own board, about the rapid deterioration after Lehman's demise.

That is a bit like saying BofA managers are experts in getting out of holes they have dug for themselves.

Tellingly, BofA is now seen as being more at risk of default than Citi (see chart).

Porsche SE and Renault SA paced advancing shares after BofA-Merrill Lynch Global Research recommended the carmakers.

BofA, with 9 per cent of deposits, is the only US bank near the cap.

BofA, which neither admitted nor denied the allegations by the SEC, agreed to pay $33m to settle with the SEC.

But failure to do so, as BofA goes back to the government for aid, could be signal that capital cushions still aren't high enough.

It will be a logistical challenge, all the more so since BofA is in the middle of digesting Countrywide, a big mortgage lender.

Mr Lewis has had a rough time ever since BofA took over Merrill Lynch amid the financial maelstrom in September 2008.

BofA-ML recommends people actually go check out these companies' operations where possible.

The BofA survey on fund managers has found that investors view equities as the cheapest relative to bonds since March 2003.

"The odds greatly favour the bulls, " said David Bianco, BofA-Merrill Lynch chief US equity strategist.

By Sunday afternoon, it was apparent that BofA would offer a rich price, $29 a share, to acquire Merrill Lynch.

Wells is in better shape than Citi or BofA, but it isn't repaying TARP yet.

His 13 months at its helm and three weeks at BofA were to expose some blind spots.

George Maris, a portfolio manager at Northern Trust, added that he planned to contact the BofA board this week.

Sellers were rumoured to be hitting the phones 60 seconds after the BofA share sale went through.

The revelation that BofA needs about $35bn in extra capital will increase pressure on Ken Lewis, its embattled chief executive.

Faced with mounting consumer criticism, BofA abandoned the planned fee Tuesday.

BofA still owns about 11 per cent of CCB and cannot sell the bulk of that until August 2011.

BofA paid $3bn two years ago for an 8. 5 per cent stake in CCB and an option to increase to 19. 9 per cent at a very low price.

Given Lehman's precarious situation, Fleming argued that Thain should start talking to BofA.

But more than ever, they need bank accounts for transactions and BofA attracts loads of deposits, paying next to nothing in interest.

Mr Price yesterday said BofA was facing a further $3bn of writedowns on its subprime-related holdings.

"You have to remember how the whole thing started, " says Nancy Bush, a bank analyst who follows BofA.

BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research downgraded the shares to "neutral" from "buy. "

A China hard landing could cause "significant" portfolio losses, BofA-Merrill's Chua said.

Some put this restraint down to lessons learned from the multiple mergers that created BofA.

"We are encouraged by signs the economy is improving, " said Brian Moynihan, chief executive of BofA, the largest bank in the US.

The SEC announced a $150m settlement with BofA yesterday regarding shareholder disclosure.

BofA responded tartly by recalling that he was banned from the securities industry in 2003 for making "unwarranted" claims.

This week change also swept the upper ranks of Bank of America (BofA) and JPMorgan Chase.

Some banks, including BofA, temporarily suspended foreclosure proceedings late in the third quarter to review procedures.

In this case, the opposite is true. About $12 billion of the value of BofA's Chinese holding is excluded from capital ratios.

Citigroup and Bank of America (BofA) posted thumping quarterly losses.

Separately, Bank of America announced on Monday that two more directors had left its board.

Late Wednesday, BofA filed a petition in New York state court to keep the pay data confidential.

More perplexing, perhaps, is why shareholders, who marked BofA's shares up 3 per cent in after-hours trading, are so pleased.

"We have an amber warning light flashing, " Patrik Schoewitz, BofA Merrill's European equity strategist, said of the finding.

In BofA, critics see a dull, if powerful, beast lumbering forward.

The BofA statement was a clear sign that the end was near for Thain.

A BofA spokesman declined to comment about bonuses paid to specific workers.

I closed my BofA account and opened one at a locally owned credit union.

At first, that deal looked like a masterstroke for Ken Lewis, BofA's chief executive.

BofA's stake in CCB is now down to 10. 6 per cent, a holding that it cannot offload until August 2011.

Beijing asked BofA to sell only half its holdings in CCB, China's second-largest bank by market capitalisation, the people added.

BofA must aim for top three, or nothing at all.

At BofA, too, the residual pong of empire-building is hard to ignore.

At the time, BofA said it would result in a $3. 3bn after-tax profit.

Because of this, some of TARP's losers should emerge intact, including BofA.

Its remaining holdings in the Chinese lender are BofA's only equity investment in another financial institution, the US bank said.

But shares in BofA, the second-largest US bank by assets, traded briefly below $5 after its downgrade was published.

Within weeks, Merrill had reported $15 billion of losses and BofA shares had tumbled.

"I think this was done directly by BofA people in New York and the buyers in Beijing, " one person said.

And how should BofA react if, say, compromising e-mails were leaked?

It's also clear that BofA knew all about the size and scope of Merrill's risky assets.

Buying BofA Asia will help CCB to diversify its income sources.

Another is Brian Moynihan, the new head of BofA's giant consumer bank.

The SEC said it took into account remedial measures taken by BofA.

BofA faced $12. 9bn in such claims at the end of the third quarter, about half from the GSEs and the rest from private investors.

In some respects, Mr Moynihan is well suited to the grinding task of fixing BofA's balance sheet.

Its holdings in the Chinese lender are BofA's only equity investment in another financial institution, the US bank said.

At BofA, Mr. Lewis said his 'first concern is about basic fairness to our associates. '

Meanwhile, Merrill's strongest unit, its 16, 000 investment advisers, would fill a gaping hole in BofA's product offerings.

BofA said that discussions on the CCB stake were always ongoing.

But BofA has a business case too for lending money that can be repaid.

"The real surprise would have been if they [BofA] didn't exercise this option. "

Carrefour SA gained 2. 5 percent as BofA- Merrill Lynch Global Research recommended the retailer.

BofA declined to comment. CCB could not be reached for comment. Temasek owned about 5. 6 per cent of CCB before the new agreement.

In theory, BofA is well placed to exploit its size.

Lehman and BofA declined to comment.

But BofA's stock has been the worst performer by far in recent days.

Excluding the BofA sell-down, trading volume was about 11 times higher than normal.

And special loss guarantees given to BofA and Citi could yet lead to red ink.

He argued that BofA should move quickly to buy all of Merrill to prevent the events of the coming week from derailing the discussions.

He won't, but BofA may reach the summit anyway.

But instead of saving the firm, he sold it to BofA.

The 8. 38 per cent stake BofA will acquire under the call option cannot be sold until August 2011.

At BofA, a customer overdrawn by as little as $6 could trigger a $35 penalty.

Concern isn't limited to BofA or U. S. banks.

In early January, BofA's share price sunk from $14 towards $10 per share.

Goldman Sachs upgraded BofA to "buy" yesterday, estimating that its capital raising was 50 per cent complete.

BofA's best performer, Evergrande Real Estate, climbed 34. 3 per cent.

Its base of stable depositsis smaller than those of competitors such as BofA and JPMorgan Chase.

Last week the US government ordered BofA to find $33. 9bn of capital after its "stress test" of 19 large banks.

Since BofA acquired it in January, management of the financial advisory unit has been in flux.

BofA had sold more than $10bn in assets through the third quarter, recording $1. 9bn in gains.

Non-performing loans are still growing fast, increasing 32% in the third quarter from the second, vs. 9% at BofA.

Whether he can walk the walk - i. e. , turn around BofA's fortunes - is another matter.

Fed officials have not yet responded to BofA's moves.

In July, junk bond returns were 3. 4 per cent, according to BofA Merill Lynch indices.

BofA's share price was down about 2. 3 per cent at $6. 07 in midday trading in New York.

BofA on Tuesday offloaded a $7. 3bn chunk of stock in the Chinese lender.

BofA sold 13. 1bn CCB shares in August for $8. 3bn.

Berkshire's deal with BofA includes: buying 50, 000 preferred shares of the bank at a dividend of 6% a year;

Last year its market cap was far below those of Citi and BofA.

He spent most of last year running BofA's retail bank.

A person familiar with the transaction said BofA could have sold its Hong Kong unit for more.

Bush tax cut expiration may spell double dip: BofA - MarketWatch

BofA says $200 oil would mean recession By: Colin Barr Source: FORTUNE China

BofA can buy back the investment at any time by paying Buffett a 5% premium;

China's CCB says BofA to remain long-term investor