tagged w/ Bank of America
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Bank of America’s takeover of Merrill Lynch is likely to cause thousands of layoffs, John Thain, Merrill’s chief executive, said on Monday.
Speaking in Dubai while on a regional tour, Mr Thain said the jobs would be lost in the corporate and services sectors, such as information technology. He added that BofA’s acquisition of Merrill’s investment and wealth management businesses would be completed by the end of the year.Bank of America’s takeover of Merrill Lynch is likely to cause thousands of... more
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Merrill Lynch says it third-quarter loss widened as it took more than $12 billion in charges from the sale of mortgage-related investments and fallout from the continued credit crisis.
Merrill lost $5.2 billion, or $5.58 per share, compared with a loss of $2.2 billion, or $2.82 per share, a year earlier.
Rest at Link...
Merrill Lynch says it third-quarter loss widened as it took more than $12 billion in... more
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Some nice visualizations of the crisis:
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How many jobs will Bank of America Corp. cut in its planned purchase of Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch & Co.?
The Charlotte bank hasn't disclosed the amount, but analysts are expecting a big number if it's to achieve its goal of shaving $7 billion in annual expenses, or 10 percent of combined costs, by 2012. The cuts could resonate from Charlotte to Boston to New York.
At the high end, Aite Group analyst Alois Pirker said in a report last week that the bank may eliminate up to 27,000 jobs, roughly 10 percent of the combined work force of nearly 270,000 employees.
That estimate could be high because Chief Financial Officer Joe Price has said the bank can also wring savings from negotiating better deals with vendors and by combining office space, in addition to job cuts. Spokesman Scott Silvestri said the bank is very early in the merger process and “many decisions haven't been made.”
The deal, expected to close early next year, would combine the nation's biggest consumer bank with the biggest force of stockbrokers and a top-flight corporate and investment bank. The merged company would be the nation's biggest bank by assets.
In the Merrill Lynch deal, Bank of America will likely aim to keep most of Merrill's nearly 17,000 brokers. But Price has said the bank will target back-office positions, overlapping roles and support functions. Pirker, the analyst, said the bank will want to keep its own top-producing brokers, but “large parts of (its brokerage) unit will be redundant, and thus unnecessary.”
Bank of America's wealth and investment management division is based in Boston, and it has back-office operations spread across three major locations: Charlotte, New York and Lincoln, R.I. Merrill has back-office operations in Hopewell, N.J.
Another overlapping area will be corporate and investment banking, which includes Wall Street-style services such as stock and bond offerings and merger advice. Merrill Lynch is the better-known name in this arena, meaning Bank of America bankers in Charlotte and New York could be under fire.
Charlotte's other big bank, Wachovia Corp., is also in the process of cutting jobs, particularly in its mortgage unit. It's eliminating nearly 7,000 positions, or about 6 percent of its workforce.How many jobs will Bank of America Corp. cut in its planned purchase of Wall Street... more
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Whipsaw losses and gains may continue as markets digest possible bailout
The Dow Jones industrial average may be almost exactly where it was a week ago, but Wall Street is a completely different place.
In a matter of days, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went into bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch & Co. was snapped up by Bank of America Corp. and the insurer American International Group Inc. was bailed out by the government. One big mutual fund broke the buck, and another was shut down.
And now, the government is planning to assume banks' risky assets.
Whipsaw losses and gains may continue as markets digest possible bailout
The Dow... more
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Every cloud has a silver lining. Ask the cybersquatters. Even as the short-selling vultures began circling Lehman Brothers, HBOS, Merrill Lynch and co, a legion of entrepreneurs began betting on domain names for hastily merged financial institutions. For example, when Barclays and Bank of America began to emerge as buyers for Lehman, names such as barclayslehman.com and bofalehman.com were promptly registered by enterprising hopefuls.
Some of these domains were being offered for sale on eBay last week. For example, www.bankofamericamerrilllynch.com was available at a starting bid of $1,500. 'With a deal between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch NOW ANNOUNCED', burbled the seller, 'this domain name will soon be incredibly popular. This is the only domain name that conveys the full picture, using the name of both firms... This is the most comprehensive and commonsensical domain name available concerning the MERGER OF BANK OF AMERICA CORP AND MERRILL LYNCH & CO.' The last time your columnist checked, however, the auction had attracted no bidders. Still - nothing ventured, nothing gained.Every cloud has a silver lining. Ask the cybersquatters. Even as the short-selling... more
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NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The film-finance world may not feel an immediate pinch from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Lehman Bros. and the planned sale of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America -- but longer term, there may be an ouch.
"A financial market that's in a meltdown is not good for the industry in so many ways," is how film-finance attorney John Burke put it Monday.
Admittedly, the studios and startups that have made use of funds from institutions like Merrill Lynch have locked in money and interest rates for the near-term. Summit Entertainment and Marvel Studios, both of which have credit facilities with Merrill, for example, have their rates already set.
But some companies could see their future clouded as the Merrill sale goes through.
MGM's United Artists division, which has a $500 million production facility with Merrill, has only one movie on the immediate horizon -- the Tom Cruise vehicle "Valkyrie" -- and could find itself facing tough questions from new Merrill owners Bank of America.
In the most dramatic scenario, that could lead to the facility being pulled.
While Bank of America is seen as a solid institution with its own history of film investment, at least one rival executive said Monday that an exit from the UA deal is a distinct possibility.NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The film-finance world may not feel an immediate pinch... more
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U.S. stocks headed for a mixed open Tuesday, a day after Wall Street's worst day in years, as nervous investors awaited a decision from the Federal Reserve on interest rates.U.S. stocks headed for a mixed open Tuesday, a day after Wall Street's worst day... more
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Bank of America Corp. said early Monday it would acquire Merrill Lynch in an all-stock transaction worth about $50 billion that should lift the uncertainty shrouding Merrill since the start of the credit crisis over a year ago.Bank of America Corp. said early Monday it would acquire Merrill Lynch in an all-stock... more
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"After Frantic Day, Wall St. Banks Falter"
In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, said it would seek bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer.
The humbling moves, which reshape the landscape of American finance, mark the latest chapter in a tumultuous year in which once-proud financial institutions have been brought to their knees as a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses because of bad mortgage finance and real estate investments.
But even as the fates of Lehman and Merrill hung in the balance, another crisis loomed as the insurance giant American International Group appeared to teeter. Staggered by losses stemming from the credit crisis, A.I.G. sought a $40 billion lifeline from the Federal Reserve, without which the company may have only days to survive.
The stunning series of events culminated a weekend of frantic around-the-clock negotiations, as Wall Street bankers huddled in meetings at the behest of Bush administration officials to try to avoid a downward spiral in the markets stemming from a crisis of confidence.
“My goodness. I’ve been in the business 35 years, and these are the most extraordinary events I’ve ever seen,” said Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the private equity firm the Blackstone Group, who was head of Lehman in the 1970s and a secretary of commerce in the Nixon administration.
It remains to be seen whether the sale of Merrill, which was worth more than $100 billion during the last year, and the controlled demise of Lehman will be enough to finally turn the tide in the yearlong financial crisis that has crippled Wall Street and threatened the broader economy.
Early Monday morning, Lehman said it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York for its holding company in what would be the largest failure of an investment bank since the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert 18 years ago, the Associated Press reported.
(more of this story on link)"After Frantic Day, Wall St. Banks Falter"
In one of the most dramatic days... more
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The boards of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have appproved a roughly $44 billion purchase of the brokerage by the bank, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site.
The Journal, citing sources close to the negotiations, reported both boards signed off on the deal Sunday evening.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America has the most deposits of any U.S. bank, while Merrill Lynch is the world's largest brokerage. A combination of the two would create a global banking giant to rival Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank in terms of assets.
However, the deal would not come without risks. Merrill Lynch, like many of its Wall Street peers, has been struggling with tight credit markets and billions of dollars in assets tied to mortgages that have plunged in value. Merrill has reported four straight quarterly losses.
And Bank of America's own finances are far from robust. As consumer credit deteriorates, the bank has seen its profits decline, and the company is still in the midst of absorbing the embattled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, which it acquired in January.
The boards of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have appproved a roughly $44 billion... more
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"Bank of America Corp. on Wednesday said it made an investment in Field Diagnostic Services Inc. as part of an agreement to implement the company's energy-management systems in 3,300 of its branches, cutting energy costs in half.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed, however Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ) said the investment includes board representation.
Based in Fairless Hills, Pa., Field Diagnostic provides technology that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by heating and cooling units.
The project is expected to save the bank as much as 50 percent in energy costs when compared with standard heating and cooling technologies, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 14,000 tons annually."
14,000 TONS? Holy hot planet! I hope other companies follow suit!
"Bank of America Corp. on Wednesday said it made an investment in Field... more
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The latest entry from Amy Alkon's blog begins:
"I think I've uncovered a real bombshell about Bank of America and the reality of their "security."
For anyone new around here, here's the deal: In a single statement period, from May through June, Bank of America's tellers, on seven separate occasions, gave a total of $12,000 of my money to thieves -- thieves with a fake driver's license in my name, and with the wrong expiration date.
Shockingly, the level of security they employed seemed on par with that of an eight-year-old with a lemonade stand: B of A's tellers didn't verify that it was my signature. No PIN was required. Just the good old fake ID, and Bank of America's tellers handed over my money like lettuce. SEVEN times. Which, to me, suggests this failure to verify isn't teller negligence but procedure. POINT ONE."
And it only gets better from there. Amy strikes out on a little undercover investigation of B of A's security practices and turns up a bombshell that you can barely even believe.The latest entry from Amy Alkon's blog begins:
"I think I've... more
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Bank of America twiddled their thumbs as an identity thief withdrew over $40,000 from Chris Hooley's account over five transactions in a single day. Chris canceled his Bank of America debit card immediately after he lost his wallet, which should have put a big red flag in Bank of America's system to stop them from handing over tens of thousands of dollars to a stranger. Apparently it didn't!
Chris only noticed the massive withdrawals after the police arrested the thief.Bank of America twiddled their thumbs as an identity thief withdrew over $40,000 from... more
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