Financial stocks can’t seem to hold onto gains made earlier. Indeed, today, the stock market opened higher. However, early gains have been erased as concerns about the health of financial companies continue to loom large. Right now, these financial companies rely a great deal on a housing market recovery. While the first time home buyer tax credit was a major player in the housing market recovery, confidence in financial companies was higher.
However, now that it appears that things are snagging with regard to an extension of the first time home buyer tax credit, there are concerns about the cash flow …read more

After taking billions of dollars of taxpayer money as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Bank of America has now positioned itself to repay the money to the federal government as part of the agreement. However, Bank of America’s plans to repay the funds have been halted over a disagreement concerning how much additional capital the bank must raise to satisfy regulators.
The timing of the disagreement is difficult for the bank, as President Obama’s so-called “pay czar” has just set a variety of restrictions on executive compensation that has lowered compensation for the top employees of Bank of America …read more

Bank of America’s outgoing chief executive Ken Lewis, whose resignation from the post came as a complete surprise to Bank of America’s board of directors, will essentially earn no money for his work in 2009 due to the mandate of Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master on compensation. Lewis will instead return about $1 million to the bank.
Feinberg, who has the authority to set executive compensation levels of seven major corporations that received federal bailout money, suggested that Lewis should receive no wages or special compensation for 2009. Lewis agreed with Feinberg’s suggestions and stated that he does not …read more

Bank of America’s suspicious acquisition of Merrill Lynch, especially considering the financial state of the latter company during the buy and the timing of the federal bailout money given to Bank of America, has raised a lot of eyebrows in the financial world and sparked an investigation. After months of hesitation, Bank of America has greed to turn over related documents to federal investigators.
So far, Bank of America officials had refused to turn over the documents containing the legal advice that Bank of America received concerning its acquisition of Merrill Lynch, citing attorney-client privilege. However, people close to the situation …read more

Ken Lewis’ sudden resignation as chief executive of Bank of America left the company’s board of directors, as well as many of its shareholders, scratching their heads over whole will take the reins of the financial giant and when. Now that the company has established a variety of plans, though, a new conflict has arisen among shareholders over whether or not Bank of America’s new leader should be a BofA insider or outsider.
Lewis has spent the last eight years as CEO of the company and forty years with Bank of America in all, but his departure came as an unexpected …read more

The financial crisis and increased concern about predatory lending practices has led the Obama administration to try to curb these practices that benefit the lender over the consumer. Because of this initiative, the government will begin to place restrictions on the amount of freedom that banks will have in changing credit card interest rates, a restriction that will begin in February.
Bank of America has decided that it will not raise any credit card interest rates until then, as several banks have already done. However, Bank of America still maintains that it will adjust credit card rates accordingly if a cardholder …read more

Ken Lewis, the CEO of Bank of America who said that he’ll be stepping down at the end of the year, won’t have to worry about money in retirement. According to numerous reports, Lewis will collect pension benefits worth more than $50 million. In fact, some reports indicate Lewis has more than $60 million coming his way.
The 62-year-old become Bank of America’s CEO, President and Chairman of the Board in 2001. During his time at the top of Bank of America, Lewis won many awards for his performance. However, after a controversial takeover of Merrill Lynch, Lewis took a lot …read more

Former Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis’s sudden departure announcement has left the financial giant struggling to fill the leadership gap that Lewis left. The situation has gotten so bad that the bank’s board of directors have considered a temporary fix, plugging the gap until the board can find another qualified leader for Bank of America.
 
People familiar with the situation have hinted at several Bank of America directors’ wishes to find a replacement that would hold Lewis’s job for only two years, giving the board of directors plenty of time to find an ideal candidate for the job. According …read more

The Hartford, a financial services company specializing in insurance, named Liam McGee as the CEO and chairman of the board. Prior to this job, McGee worked with Bank of America as the President of the Consumer and Small Business Bank.
Michael Morris, the presiding director of The Hartford, thinks that McGee’s experience will benefit the company.
Said Morris: “Liam’s strong track record of success in leading large, complex financial services organizations makes him the ideal person to build on The Hartford’s strong foundation. He has an outstanding combination of leadership skills, financial acumen and operational and technology experience, along with a demonstrated …read more

Bank of America has long been criticized for how the company handles overdraft fees. On Monday, the bank finally decided to do something about it. Their changes to their overdraft fee rules are aimed at helping customers avoid racking up big overdraft penalties.
Starting on Oct. 19, Bank of America won’t charge an overdraft fee when the overdraft is less than $10 and is in that state for less than a day. Overdraft fees will only be maxed out at four times per day and customers will find it easier to opt out of overdraft protection. Additionally, Bank of America will …read more