Complaint Review: Bank Of America John P Costa Senior Vice-President - El Paso Texas

said that the ones currently running BOA are- quote: 'IDIOTS'? It was on T.V. about a week, or so ago. She's lost a lot of money due to BOA's PLUNGING STOCK value over the past year. Did you know that the prices (values) that you see posted for a share of stock for a publicly held company are all a lie? You can 'Google' this- RIP OFF REPORT FUEL FREEDOM INTERNATIONAL MPG CAPS, and read what a Harvard Business Professor said to his class of EXECUTIVES in late 2004. It's in the Update to that Report titled- 'Blame it on a Lawyer'. My brother in-law is a CEO of a company back in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, & he was in that class. His company isn't publicly held, but he's worth WELL OVER $30 MILLION, according to my sister. Believe it or not, he DOESN'T cheat his clients or his employees. He actually runs a good company that has grown, & done well. But it's a lot easier to make MASSIVE amounts of money if you're an executive by taking the company PUBLIC, and putting it on the stock exchange. These CEO's, and the executives under them, are basically operating a GIANT PONZI SCHEME where people's money is being MANIPULATED, & used for their own gain! Simply take a look at what's happened in the last 20 months! Here are some PUBLICLY HELD Companies to consider: 1) Countrywide- COLLAPSED due to 'LIAR LOANS' that were made to consumers in the USA. 2) Bear Stearns- COLLAPSED due to exposure to these 'liar loans'. 3) Lehman- COLLAPSED due to exposure to these 'liar loans'. 4) Freddie Mac- would have COLLAPSED if TAXPAYER'S money hadn't been injected by the government due to exposure to these 'liar loans'. 5) Fannie Mae- same as #4. 6) Merrill Lynch- was on the verge of COLLAPSING due to exposure to these 'liar loans', & had to be swallowed-up by BOA! 7) AIG- would have completely COLLAPSED if TAXPAYER'S money hadn't been injected by the government due to the exposure to these 'liar loans'. 8) Morgan Stanley- needed TAXPAYER'S money due to exposure to these 'liar loans'. 9) Goldman Sachs- same as #8. 10) Bank of America- needed TAXPAYER'S money due to exposure to these 'liar loans' in order to stave-off a COLLAPSE. 11) Citigroup- same as #10. 12) BlackRock Inc.- was handed $29 BILLION in TAXPAYER'S money last year from Ben Bernanke, of the Federal Reserve, in regards to the Bear Stearn deal. You see, the U.S. economy is basically an economy whose foundation has been based on LIES, DECEPTION, MANIPULATION, FRAUD, GREED, DEEP CORRUPTION, & the CONSTANT PURSUIT TO FINANCIALLY INJURE THE INNOCENT. IT CAN'T BE DENIED! Welcome to the BIGGEST LIE on earth- America: IN FRAUD WE TRUST! P.S. If you want to know what's REALLY happening in the USA, & around the world, 'Google' this- DR MANDELSTAMM OF KIEFF, and go to the site that says 'Page 88', and click on it. Then read the passage entitled- 'The Talmud & the Ghettoes'. Scroll down to 'Page 94', & read Dr. Mandelstamm's quote in its entirety first. Then read the entire passage 3 or 4 times, slowly. Then ask yourself this question: Is all of this currently happening in the USA, and around the world? YOU BE THE JUDGE! P.S.S. Don't forget to look at the companies listed above, and then find out WHO is, and who was CONTROLLING them!!! And don't forget to look at WHO runs, & operates the Federal Reserve. 'Google' this- AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM, and watch that documentary on the web. POWER TO THE PEOPLE By the way, the Federal Reserve is a 'private' company, owned by a 'cartel' of bankers, according to the documentary 'AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM', by Aaron Russo. It's NOT part of the U.S. government, which many people believe! 'Only a PAWN in their GAME!' - Dylan

I DID MY RESEARCH. EVERYTHING THAT I READ IN THE FINANCIAL PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THESE PEOPLE IS SUMMED UP IN THE WIKIPEDIA ONLINE WHICH IS CONSIDERED FREE USE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED. THOSE OF US WHO WERE RAISED IN NEW ORLEANS WILL UNDERSTAND WHY I WOULD NOT WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. See also: Banc of America Securities Bank of America Corporation Type Public (NYSE: BAC) (TYO: 8648) Founded Bank of Italy (1904) NationsBank (1874) Headquarters Charlotte, NC, United States Area served Worldwide Key people Kenneth D. Lewis (Chairman, President and CEO) Joe L. Price, CFO Industry Banking Financial services Investment services Products Finance and insurance Consumer Banking Corporate Banking Investment Banking Investment Management Global Wealth Management Private Equity Mortgage Credit Cards Revenue ? US$124.32 billion (Jan '07)[1] Net income ? US$14.98 billion (Dec '07)[2] Total assets ? US$2.88 trillion (Sep '08)[3] Total equity ? US$146.803 billion[1] Employees 171,587 (February 2009) Website Bankofamerica.com Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest financial services company in the world, largest bank by assets, second largest commercial bank by deposits, and (previously) third largest by market capitalization in the United States. Also, Bank of America is the number one underwriter of global high yield debt, the third largest underwriter of global equity and the ninth largest adviser on global mergers and acquisitions. Bank of America serves clients in more than 150 countries and has a relationship with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. The company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The Bank, once considered one of the winners and healthiest survivors of the 2007 credit crisis, plunged in market value after its purchase of Merrill Lynch. Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy was founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini in 1904, based on catering to immigrants. Amadeo was raised by the Fava/Stanghellini family when his father was shot while trying to collect on a $10.00 debt. When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, Giannini was able to get all of the deposits out of the bank building and away from the fires. In 1922, Giannini established Bank of America and Italy in Italy by buying Banca dell'Italia Meridionale, itself only established in 1918. In the late 1920s, Giannini approached Orra E. Monnette, President and founder of Bank of America, Los Angeles, about a merger between the two entities. The Los Angeles based bank had exhibited strong growth throughout the 1920s, due in part to its success in developing an advanced branch banking system. The merger was completed in early 1929 and took the name Bank of America. The combined company was headed by Giannini with Monnette serving as co-Chair. Growth in California Giannini sought to build a national bank, expanding into most of the western states as well as into the insurance industry, under the aegis of his holding company, Transamerica Corporation. The passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, prohibited banks from owning non-banking subsidiaries such as insurance companies. Bank of America and Transamerica were separated, with the latter company continuing in the insurance business. However, federal banking regulators prohibited Bank of America's interstate banking activity, and Bank of America's domestic banks outside California were forced into a separate company that eventually became First Interstate Bancorp, which was acquired by Wells Fargo and Company in 1996. It was not until the 1980s with a change in federal banking legislation and regulation that Bank of America was again able to expand its domestic consumer banking activity outside California. These technologies also allowed credit cards to be linked directly to individual bank accounts. In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to VISA in 1975.[9] A consortium of other California banks came up with Master Charge (now MasterCard) in order to compete with BankAmericard. Expansion outside of California Bank of America Corporate Center, located in the center of uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. Following the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1967, BankAmerica Corporation was established for the purpose of owning Bank of America and its subsidiaries. BankAmerica expanded outside California in 1983 with its acquisition of Seafirst Corporation of Seattle, Washington, and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Seattle-First National Bank. Seafirst was at risk of seizure by the federal government after becoming insolvent due to a series of bad loans to the oil industry. BankAmerica continued to operate its new subsidiary as Seafirst rather than Bank of America until the 1998 merger with NationsBank. BankAmerica was dealt huge losses in 1986 and 1987 by the placement of a series of bad loans in the Third World, particularly in Latin America. The company fired its CEO, Sam Armacost. Though Armacost blamed the problems on his predecessor, A.W. (Tom) Clausen, Clausen was appointed to replace Armacost. The losses resulted in a huge decline of BankAmerica stock, making it vulnerable to a hostile takeover. First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles (which had originated from banks once owned by BankAmerica), launched such a bid in the fall of 1986, although BankAmerica rebuffed it, mostly by selling operations. It sold its FinanceAmerica subsidiary to Chrysler and the brokerage firm Charles Schwab and Co. back to Mr. Schwab. It also sold Bank of America and Italy to Deutsche Bank. By the time of the 1987 stock market crash, BankAmerica's share price had fallen to $8, but by 1992 it had rebounded mightily to become one of the biggest gainers of that half-decade. BankAmerica's next big acquisition came in 1992. The company acquired its California rival, Security Pacific Corporation and its subsidiary Security Pacific National Bank in California and other banks in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Washington (which Security Pacific had acquired in a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s). This was, at the time, the largest bank acquisition in history. Federal regulators, however, forced the sale of Security Pacific's Washington subsidiary, Rainier Bank, as the combination of Seafirst and Rainier would have given BankAmerica too large a share of the market in that state. The Rainier Bank branches were divided and sold off to West One Bancorp (now U.S. Bancorp) and KeyBank.Later that year, BankAmerica expanded into Nevada by acquiring Valley Bank of Nevada. In 1994, BankAmerica acquired the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago, which had become federally owned as part of the same oil industry debacle emanating from Oklahoma City's Penn Square Bank, that had brought down numerous financial institutions including Seafirst. At the time, no bank had the resources to bail out Continental, so the federal government operated the bank for nearly a decade. Illinois at that time regulated branch banking extremely heavily, so Bank of America Illinois was a single-unit bank until the 21st century. BankAmerica moved its national lending department to Chicago in an effort to establish a financial beachhead in the region. These mergers helped BankAmerica Corporation to once again become the largest U.S. bank holding company in terms of deposits, but the company fell to second place in 1997 behind fast-growing NationsBank Corporation, and to third in 1998 behind North Carolina's First Union Corp. In 1998, BankAmerica was purchased by North Carolina-based NationsBank, and changed the headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. Merger of NationsBank and BankAmerica In 1997, BankAmerica lent D. E. Shaw & Co., a large hedge fund, $1.4bn so that the hedge fund would run various businesses for the bank. However, D.E. Shaw suffered significant loss after the 1998 Russia bond default. BankAmerica was acquired by NationsBank later that year in October. The purchase of BankAmerica Corp. by the NationsBank Corporation was the largest bank acquisition in history at that time. While the deal was technically a purchase of BankAmerica Corporation by NationsBank, the deal was structured as merger with NationsBank renamed to Bank of America Corporation, and Bank of America NT&SA, changing its name to Bank of America, N.A. as the remaining legal bank entity. The bank still operates under Federal Charter 13044 which was granted to Giannini's Bank of Italy on March 1, 1927. However, SEC filings before 1998 are listed under NationsBank, not BankAmerica. Following the US$64.8 billion acquisition of BankAmerica by NationsBank, the resulting Bank of America had combined assets of US$570 billion, as well as 4,800 branches in 22 states. Despite the mammoth size of the two companies, federal regulators insisted only upon the divestiture of 13 branches in New Mexico, in towns that would be left with only a single bank following the combination. This is because branch divestitures are only required if the combined company will have a larger than 25 percent FDIC deposit market share in a particular state or 10 percent deposit market share overall. History since 2001 In 2001, Bank of America CEO and chairman Hugh McColl stepped down and named Ken Lewis as his successor. Lewis's greater focus on financial discipline and efficiency contrasted greatly with the expansionary mergers and acquisition strategy of his predecessor. Acquisition of FleetBoston Financial In 2004, Bank of America announced it would purchase Boston-based bank FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in cash and stock.By merging with Bank of America, all of its banks and branches were given the Bank of America logo. At the time of merger, FleetBoston was the seventh largest bank in United States with $197 billion in assets, over 20 million customers and revenue of $12 billion. Purchase of MBNA On 30 June 2005, Bank of America announced it would purchase credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion in cash and stock. The Federal Reserve Board gave final approval to the merger on 15 December 2005, and the merger closed on 1 January 2006. The acquisition of MBNA provided Bank of America a leading credit card issuer at home and abroad. The combined Bank of America Card Services organization, including the former MBNAhad more than 40 million U.S. accounts and nearly $140 billion in outstanding balances. Divestiture of operations in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay In May 2006, Bank of America and Banco Ita (Investimentos Ita S.A.) entered into an acquisition agreement through which Ita agreed to acquire BankBoston's operations in Brazil and was granted an exclusive right to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. A deal was signed in August 2006 under which Ita agreed to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. Prior to the transaction, BankBoston's Brazilian operations included asset management, private banking, a credit card portfolio, and small, middle-market, and large corporate segments. It had 66 branches and 203,000 clients in Brazil. BankBoston in Chile had 44 branches and 58,000 clients and in Uruguay it had 15 branches. In addition, there was a credit card company, OCA, in Uruguay, which had 23 branches. BankBoston N.A. in Uruguay, together with OCA, jointly served 372,000 clients. While the BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction, as part of the sale agreement, they cannot be used by Bank of America in Brazil, Chile or Uruguay following the transactions. Hence, the BankBoston name has disappeared from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The Ita stock received by Bank of America in the transactions has allowed Bank of America's stake in Ita to reach 11.51%. Banco Boston do Brazil had been founded in 1947. Purchase of US Trust On 20 November 2006, Bank of America announced the purchase of The United States Trust Company for $3.3 billion, from the Charles Schwab Corporation. US Trust had about $100 billion of Assets Under Management and over 150 years of experience. The deal closed 1 July 2007. Acquisition of ABN AMRO North America and LaSalle Bank On September 14, 2007, Bank of America won approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire ABN AMRO N.A. and LaSalle Bank Corporation from Netherlands's ABN AMRO for $21 billion. With this combination Bank of America will have 1.7 trillion in assets. A Dutch court blocked the sale until it was later approved in July. The acquisition was completed on October 1, 2007. The deal increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana by 411 branches, 17,000 commercial bank clients, 1.4 million retail customers and 1,500 ATMs. Bank of America has become the largest bank in the Chicago market with 197 offices and 14% of the deposit share, passing up JPMorgan Chase. LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on 5 May 2008. Acquisition of Countrywide Financial On August 23, 2007 the company announced a $2 billion repurchase agreement for Countrywide Financial. This purchase of preferred stock was arranged to provide a return on investment of 7.25% per annum and provided the option to purchase common stock at a price of $18 per share. Following that initial investment, on January 11, 2008, Bank of America announced that they would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion.This acquisition, which closed on July 1, 2008, gave the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's expertise, technology, and employees for servicing mortgages.The acquisition was seen as preventing the potential of bankruptcy for Countrywide. Countrywide, however, denied that it was close to bankruptcy. Countrywide provides mortgage servicing for nine million mortgages valued at $1.4 trillion USD as of December 31, 2007. However, Countrywide is under FBI investigation due to possible fraud in home loans and mortgages, therefore Bank of America states that by 2009 they will only be "officially" affiliated to Countrywide. On July 1, 2008, Bank of America Corporation completed its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corporation. This purchase made it the USA's leading mortgage originator and servicer, controlling between 20 to 25 percent of the home loan market.[19] The deal was structured to merge Countrywide with the Red Oak Merger Corporation, which Bank of America created as an independent subsidiary. It has been suggested that the deal was structured this way to prevent a potential bankruptcy stemming from large losses in Countrywide hurting the parent organization by keeping Countrywide bankruptcy remote. Acquisition of Merrill Lynch On September 15, 2008, Bank of America announced its intentions to purchase Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in an all-stock deal worth approximately $ 50 billion, about 86% of the Bank of America stock price at close. This acquisition will make Bank of America the largest financial services company in the world. Temasek Holdings, the largest shareholder of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., will become one of the largest shareholders of Bank of America. Shareholders of both companies approved the acquisition on December 5, 2008, and the deal closed January 1, 2009. The Bank, in its January 16, 2009 earnings release, revealed massive losses at Merrill Lynch in the fourth quarter, which necessitated an emergency government bailout of the Bank to keep it solvent. Merrill recorded an operating loss of $21.5 billion in the quarter, mainly in its sales and trading operations, led by Tom Montag. The Bank also disclosed it tried to abandon the deal in December after the extent of Merrill's trading losses surfaced, but was compelled to complete the merger by the U.S. government. The Bank's stock price sank to $7.18, its lowest level in 17 years, after announcing earnings and the Merrill mishap. The market capitalization of Bank of America, including Merrill Lynch, was then $45 billion, less than the $50 billion it offered for Merrill just four months earlier, and down $108 billion from the merger announcement. Federal bailout Bank of America received US $20 billion in federal bailout from the US government through the TARP program on 16 January 2009 and also got guarantee of US $118 billion in potential losses at the company.This was in addition to the $25 billion given to them in the Fall of 2008 through TARP. The additional payment was part of a deal with the US government to preserve Bank of America's merger with the troubled investment firm Merrill Lynch. Since then, members of the US Congress have expressed considerable concern about how this money has been spent, especially since some of the recipients have been accused of mis-using the bailout money.The Bank's CEO, Ken Lewis, was quoted as claiming "We are still lending, and we are lending far more because of the TARP program." Members of the US House of Representatives, however, were skeptical and quoted many anecdotes about loan applicants (particularly small business owners) being denied loans and credit card holders facing stiffer terms on the debt in their card accounts. According to a March 15, 2009 article in The New York Times, Bank of America received an additional $5.2 billion in government bailout money which was channeled through American International Group. Bank of America divisions Bank of America ATM Typical Bank of America local office Bank of America branch in Lowell, MA Bank of America generates 90% of its revenues in its domestic market and continues to buy businesses in the US. The core of Bank of America's strategy is to be the number one bank in its domestic market. It has achieved this through key acquisitions. Consumer Global Consumer and Small Business Banking (GC&SBB) is the largest division in the company, and deals primarily with consumer banking and credit card issuance. The acquisition of FleetBoston and MBNA significantly expanded its size and range of services, resulting in about 51% of the company's total revenue in 2005. It competes directly with the retail banking divisions of Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. The GC&SBB organization includes over 6,100 retail branches and over 18,700 ATMs across the United States. Bank of America is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are Barclays (United Kingdom), BNP Paribas (France), China Construction Bank (China), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand). This feature is restricted to withdrawals using a debit card, though credit card withdrawals are still subject to cash advance fees and foreign currency conversion fees. Additionally, some foreign ATMs use Smart Card technology and may not accept non-Smart Cards. Bank of America, N.A is a nationally chartered bank, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury. Corporate Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB), also known as Banc of America Securities LLC, provides mergers and acquisitions advisory, underwriting, capital markets, as well as sales & trading in fixed income and equities markets. Its strongest groups include Leveraged Finance, Syndicated Loans, and mortgage-backed securities. It also has one of the largest research teams on Wall Street. Banc of America Securities LLC is based in New York City, with major offices also located in Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, and Mumbai. Ken Lewis, the ambitious chief executive who masterminded the bank's expansion into exotic new businesses including GCIB, bluntly ruled out any further acquisitions in its investment banking division. "I've had all of the fun I can stand in investment banking at the moment," he told analysts. Investment management Global Wealth and Investment Management manages assets of institutions and individuals. It is among the 10 largest U.S. wealth managers (ranked by private banking assets under management in accounts of $1 million or more as of June 30, 2005). In July 2006, Chairman Ken Lewis announced that GWIM's total assets under management exceeded $500 billion. GWIM has five primary lines of business: Premier Banking & Investments (including Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.), The Private Bank, Family Wealth Advisors, Columbia Management Group, and Banc of America Specialist. Bank of America has recently spent $675 million building its US investment banking business and is looking to become one of the top five investment banks worldwide. "Bank of America already has excellent relationships with the corporate and financial institutions world. Its clients include 98% of the Fortune 500 companies in the US and 79% of the Global Fortune 500. These relationships, as well as a balance sheet that most banks would kill for, are the foundations for a lofty ambition." Bank of America is currently constructing a massive new headquarters for its New York City operations. The skyscaper will be located on 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas, at Bryant Park, and will feature state of the art, environmentally-friendly technology throughout its 1.2 million square feet (111,484 m) of office space. The building will be the headquarters for the company's investment banking division, and will also host most of Bank of America's New York-based staff. International operations In 2005, Bank of America acquired a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, China's second largest bank, for $3 billion. It represented the company's largest foray into China's growing banking sector. Bank of America currently has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and is looking to greatly expand its Chinese business as a result of this deal. In 2008 Bank of America was awarded Deal of the Year - Project Finance Deal of the Year at the 2008 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards. Bank of America has invested in India as an emerging market. Currently, Bank of America maintains branches in Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, New Delhi and Bangalore. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 Bank of America reported an 80% increase in net profit. Bank of America operated under the name BankBoston in many other Latin American countries, including Brazil. In 2006, Bank of America sold all BankBoston's operations to Brazilian bank Banco Ita, in exchange for Ita shares. The BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction and, as part of the sale agreement, cannot be used by Bank of America. (That meant the extinction of the BankBoston brand.) Bank of America's Global Corporate and Investment Banking spans the Globe with divisions in United States, Europe and Asia. The U.S. headquarters are located in New York, European headquarters are based in London and Asia's headquarters are split between Singapore & Hong Kong. Board of Directors * William Barnet III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Barnet Company * Frank P. Bramble Sr, Former Executive Officer, MBNA Corporation * John T. Collins, Chief Executive Officer, The Collins Group * Gary L. Countryman, Chairman Emeritus, Liberty Mutual Group * Tommy Franks, Retired General, United States Army * Charles K. Gifford, Former Chairman, Bank of America Corporation * Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation * Monica C. Lozano, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of La Opinion * Walter E. Massey, President Emeritus, Morehouse College * Thomas J. May, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, NSTAR * Patricia E. Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Paley Center for Media * Thomas M. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, CVS Caremark Corporation * O. Temple Sloan, Jr., Chairman, General Parts International * Meredith R. Spangler, Trustee and Board Member * Robert L. Tillman, Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Lowe's * Jackie M. Ward, Retired Chairman/CEO, Computer Generation Major Shareholders Individuals Shares held Kenneth D Lewis 1,780,531 John A Thain 679,946 Bruce L Hammonds 504,429 Keith T Banks 336,371 Charles K Gifford 334,176 Institutions Shares held % held Barclays Global Investors 192,077,414 3.83 State Street Corp 187,394,299 3.73 FMR 152,596,052 3.04 Vanguard Group 142,204,635 2.83 Capital World Investors 114,829,550 2.29 Wellington Management Comp 102,053,133 2.03 AXA 89,824,923 1.79 Bank of New York Mellon Corp 65,284,687 1.30 Morgan Stanley 58,081,288 1.16 JP Morgan Chase & Co 54,816,605 1.09 * data from Yahoo! Finance as of January 1, 2009 Social responsibility In addition to its new eco-friendly office tower in Manhattan, Bank of America has pledged to spend billions on commercial lending and investment banking for projects that it considers "green." The corporation, which already supplied all of its employees with cash incentives to buy hybrid vehicles, is also helping its customers be eco-friendly by rolling out a new credit card program in 2007 that would donate money to helping the environment, as well as providing mortgage loan breaks for customers whose homes qualified as energy efficient. Bank of America has also donated money to help health centers in Massachusettsand made donations to help homeless shelters in Miami. In 2004 the bank pledged $750 billion over a ten-year period for community development lending and investment. The company had delivered more than $230 billion against a ten-year commitment of $350 billion made in 1998 to provide affordable mortgage, build affordable housing, support small business and create jobs in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Diversity and inclusion Bank of America in Washington, D.C. Bank of America was named for the 19th year as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" in 2007 by Working Mother magazine. In 2006 Bank of America was one of the first companies inducted into Working Mother magazine's Hall of Fame. In 2007, DiversityInc ranked Bank of America as the number one company for diversity in this prestigious list and placed as a top employer for executive women, Hispanics, Asian Americans and for GLBT executives, as well as number one for recruitment and retention, and number six for supplier diversity. IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) recognized Bank of America as the "2007 Organization of the Year." This award is presented annually for leadership in the areas of developing and embracing a diverse workforce. National Black MBA Association awarded Bank of America the "2006 Company of the Year" for recruiting, retaining and providing advancement opportunities for blacks in the workplace. It also recognized Bank of America's Managing Director, Deputy Head of Global Investment Banking Lewis Warren, Jr. as one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street." Bank of America was named the number one company for Hispanics by Hispanics Business Magazine in 2006. Latina Style continues to rank Bank of America in their Top 15 for its "50 Best Companies for Latinas" which measures companies based on recruitment, retention and advancement opportunities for Latinas. Human Rights Campaign 2006 Corporate Equality Index gave Bank of America a 100% rating for its support of gay, l*****n, bisexual and transgender associates. Controversies As is the case with many large corporations, some of Bank of America's corporate policies have been controversial. Some policies, such as their overdraft fee policy, and their acceptance of the Matricula Consular as an acceptable form of identification for account opening are widespread in the financial industry. Other controversies have been more specific to Bank of America, such as its involvement in the bankruptcy of the Italian food and dairy conglomerate Parmalat or its receipt of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. These controversies generate a great deal of media attention from critics on all points of the political spectrum.

I DID MY RESEARCH. EVERYTHING THAT I READ IN THE FINANCIAL PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THESE PEOPLE IS SUMMED UP IN THE WIKIPEDIA ONLINE WHICH IS CONSIDERED FREE USE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED. THOSE OF US WHO WERE RAISED IN NEW ORLEANS WILL UNDERSTAND WHY I WOULD NOT WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. See also: Banc of America Securities Bank of America Corporation Type Public (NYSE: BAC) (TYO: 8648) Founded Bank of Italy (1904) NationsBank (1874) Headquarters Charlotte, NC, United States Area served Worldwide Key people Kenneth D. Lewis (Chairman, President and CEO) Joe L. Price, CFO Industry Banking Financial services Investment services Products Finance and insurance Consumer Banking Corporate Banking Investment Banking Investment Management Global Wealth Management Private Equity Mortgage Credit Cards Revenue ? US$124.32 billion (Jan '07)[1] Net income ? US$14.98 billion (Dec '07)[2] Total assets ? US$2.88 trillion (Sep '08)[3] Total equity ? US$146.803 billion[1] Employees 171,587 (February 2009) Website Bankofamerica.com Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest financial services company in the world, largest bank by assets, second largest commercial bank by deposits, and (previously) third largest by market capitalization in the United States. Also, Bank of America is the number one underwriter of global high yield debt, the third largest underwriter of global equity and the ninth largest adviser on global mergers and acquisitions. Bank of America serves clients in more than 150 countries and has a relationship with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. The company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The Bank, once considered one of the winners and healthiest survivors of the 2007 credit crisis, plunged in market value after its purchase of Merrill Lynch. Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy was founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini in 1904, based on catering to immigrants. Amadeo was raised by the Fava/Stanghellini family when his father was shot while trying to collect on a $10.00 debt. When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, Giannini was able to get all of the deposits out of the bank building and away from the fires. In 1922, Giannini established Bank of America and Italy in Italy by buying Banca dell'Italia Meridionale, itself only established in 1918. In the late 1920s, Giannini approached Orra E. Monnette, President and founder of Bank of America, Los Angeles, about a merger between the two entities. The Los Angeles based bank had exhibited strong growth throughout the 1920s, due in part to its success in developing an advanced branch banking system. The merger was completed in early 1929 and took the name Bank of America. The combined company was headed by Giannini with Monnette serving as co-Chair. Growth in California Giannini sought to build a national bank, expanding into most of the western states as well as into the insurance industry, under the aegis of his holding company, Transamerica Corporation. The passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, prohibited banks from owning non-banking subsidiaries such as insurance companies. Bank of America and Transamerica were separated, with the latter company continuing in the insurance business. However, federal banking regulators prohibited Bank of America's interstate banking activity, and Bank of America's domestic banks outside California were forced into a separate company that eventually became First Interstate Bancorp, which was acquired by Wells Fargo and Company in 1996. It was not until the 1980s with a change in federal banking legislation and regulation that Bank of America was again able to expand its domestic consumer banking activity outside California. These technologies also allowed credit cards to be linked directly to individual bank accounts. In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to VISA in 1975.[9] A consortium of other California banks came up with Master Charge (now MasterCard) in order to compete with BankAmericard. Expansion outside of California Bank of America Corporate Center, located in the center of uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. Following the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1967, BankAmerica Corporation was established for the purpose of owning Bank of America and its subsidiaries. BankAmerica expanded outside California in 1983 with its acquisition of Seafirst Corporation of Seattle, Washington, and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Seattle-First National Bank. Seafirst was at risk of seizure by the federal government after becoming insolvent due to a series of bad loans to the oil industry. BankAmerica continued to operate its new subsidiary as Seafirst rather than Bank of America until the 1998 merger with NationsBank. BankAmerica was dealt huge losses in 1986 and 1987 by the placement of a series of bad loans in the Third World, particularly in Latin America. The company fired its CEO, Sam Armacost. Though Armacost blamed the problems on his predecessor, A.W. (Tom) Clausen, Clausen was appointed to replace Armacost. The losses resulted in a huge decline of BankAmerica stock, making it vulnerable to a hostile takeover. First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles (which had originated from banks once owned by BankAmerica), launched such a bid in the fall of 1986, although BankAmerica rebuffed it, mostly by selling operations. It sold its FinanceAmerica subsidiary to Chrysler and the brokerage firm Charles Schwab and Co. back to Mr. Schwab. It also sold Bank of America and Italy to Deutsche Bank. By the time of the 1987 stock market crash, BankAmerica's share price had fallen to $8, but by 1992 it had rebounded mightily to become one of the biggest gainers of that half-decade. BankAmerica's next big acquisition came in 1992. The company acquired its California rival, Security Pacific Corporation and its subsidiary Security Pacific National Bank in California and other banks in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Washington (which Security Pacific had acquired in a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s). This was, at the time, the largest bank acquisition in history. Federal regulators, however, forced the sale of Security Pacific's Washington subsidiary, Rainier Bank, as the combination of Seafirst and Rainier would have given BankAmerica too large a share of the market in that state. The Rainier Bank branches were divided and sold off to West One Bancorp (now U.S. Bancorp) and KeyBank.Later that year, BankAmerica expanded into Nevada by acquiring Valley Bank of Nevada. In 1994, BankAmerica acquired the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago, which had become federally owned as part of the same oil industry debacle emanating from Oklahoma City's Penn Square Bank, that had brought down numerous financial institutions including Seafirst. At the time, no bank had the resources to bail out Continental, so the federal government operated the bank for nearly a decade. Illinois at that time regulated branch banking extremely heavily, so Bank of America Illinois was a single-unit bank until the 21st century. BankAmerica moved its national lending department to Chicago in an effort to establish a financial beachhead in the region. These mergers helped BankAmerica Corporation to once again become the largest U.S. bank holding company in terms of deposits, but the company fell to second place in 1997 behind fast-growing NationsBank Corporation, and to third in 1998 behind North Carolina's First Union Corp. In 1998, BankAmerica was purchased by North Carolina-based NationsBank, and changed the headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. Merger of NationsBank and BankAmerica In 1997, BankAmerica lent D. E. Shaw & Co., a large hedge fund, $1.4bn so that the hedge fund would run various businesses for the bank. However, D.E. Shaw suffered significant loss after the 1998 Russia bond default. BankAmerica was acquired by NationsBank later that year in October. The purchase of BankAmerica Corp. by the NationsBank Corporation was the largest bank acquisition in history at that time. While the deal was technically a purchase of BankAmerica Corporation by NationsBank, the deal was structured as merger with NationsBank renamed to Bank of America Corporation, and Bank of America NT&SA, changing its name to Bank of America, N.A. as the remaining legal bank entity. The bank still operates under Federal Charter 13044 which was granted to Giannini's Bank of Italy on March 1, 1927. However, SEC filings before 1998 are listed under NationsBank, not BankAmerica. Following the US$64.8 billion acquisition of BankAmerica by NationsBank, the resulting Bank of America had combined assets of US$570 billion, as well as 4,800 branches in 22 states. Despite the mammoth size of the two companies, federal regulators insisted only upon the divestiture of 13 branches in New Mexico, in towns that would be left with only a single bank following the combination. This is because branch divestitures are only required if the combined company will have a larger than 25 percent FDIC deposit market share in a particular state or 10 percent deposit market share overall. History since 2001 In 2001, Bank of America CEO and chairman Hugh McColl stepped down and named Ken Lewis as his successor. Lewis's greater focus on financial discipline and efficiency contrasted greatly with the expansionary mergers and acquisition strategy of his predecessor. Acquisition of FleetBoston Financial In 2004, Bank of America announced it would purchase Boston-based bank FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in cash and stock.By merging with Bank of America, all of its banks and branches were given the Bank of America logo. At the time of merger, FleetBoston was the seventh largest bank in United States with $197 billion in assets, over 20 million customers and revenue of $12 billion. Purchase of MBNA On 30 June 2005, Bank of America announced it would purchase credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion in cash and stock. The Federal Reserve Board gave final approval to the merger on 15 December 2005, and the merger closed on 1 January 2006. The acquisition of MBNA provided Bank of America a leading credit card issuer at home and abroad. The combined Bank of America Card Services organization, including the former MBNAhad more than 40 million U.S. accounts and nearly $140 billion in outstanding balances. Divestiture of operations in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay In May 2006, Bank of America and Banco Ita (Investimentos Ita S.A.) entered into an acquisition agreement through which Ita agreed to acquire BankBoston's operations in Brazil and was granted an exclusive right to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. A deal was signed in August 2006 under which Ita agreed to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. Prior to the transaction, BankBoston's Brazilian operations included asset management, private banking, a credit card portfolio, and small, middle-market, and large corporate segments. It had 66 branches and 203,000 clients in Brazil. BankBoston in Chile had 44 branches and 58,000 clients and in Uruguay it had 15 branches. In addition, there was a credit card company, OCA, in Uruguay, which had 23 branches. BankBoston N.A. in Uruguay, together with OCA, jointly served 372,000 clients. While the BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction, as part of the sale agreement, they cannot be used by Bank of America in Brazil, Chile or Uruguay following the transactions. Hence, the BankBoston name has disappeared from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The Ita stock received by Bank of America in the transactions has allowed Bank of America's stake in Ita to reach 11.51%. Banco Boston do Brazil had been founded in 1947. Purchase of US Trust On 20 November 2006, Bank of America announced the purchase of The United States Trust Company for $3.3 billion, from the Charles Schwab Corporation. US Trust had about $100 billion of Assets Under Management and over 150 years of experience. The deal closed 1 July 2007. Acquisition of ABN AMRO North America and LaSalle Bank On September 14, 2007, Bank of America won approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire ABN AMRO N.A. and LaSalle Bank Corporation from Netherlands's ABN AMRO for $21 billion. With this combination Bank of America will have 1.7 trillion in assets. A Dutch court blocked the sale until it was later approved in July. The acquisition was completed on October 1, 2007. The deal increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana by 411 branches, 17,000 commercial bank clients, 1.4 million retail customers and 1,500 ATMs. Bank of America has become the largest bank in the Chicago market with 197 offices and 14% of the deposit share, passing up JPMorgan Chase. LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on 5 May 2008. Acquisition of Countrywide Financial On August 23, 2007 the company announced a $2 billion repurchase agreement for Countrywide Financial. This purchase of preferred stock was arranged to provide a return on investment of 7.25% per annum and provided the option to purchase common stock at a price of $18 per share. Following that initial investment, on January 11, 2008, Bank of America announced that they would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion.This acquisition, which closed on July 1, 2008, gave the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's expertise, technology, and employees for servicing mortgages.The acquisition was seen as preventing the potential of bankruptcy for Countrywide. Countrywide, however, denied that it was close to bankruptcy. Countrywide provides mortgage servicing for nine million mortgages valued at $1.4 trillion USD as of December 31, 2007. However, Countrywide is under FBI investigation due to possible fraud in home loans and mortgages, therefore Bank of America states that by 2009 they will only be "officially" affiliated to Countrywide. On July 1, 2008, Bank of America Corporation completed its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corporation. This purchase made it the USA's leading mortgage originator and servicer, controlling between 20 to 25 percent of the home loan market.[19] The deal was structured to merge Countrywide with the Red Oak Merger Corporation, which Bank of America created as an independent subsidiary. It has been suggested that the deal was structured this way to prevent a potential bankruptcy stemming from large losses in Countrywide hurting the parent organization by keeping Countrywide bankruptcy remote. Acquisition of Merrill Lynch On September 15, 2008, Bank of America announced its intentions to purchase Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in an all-stock deal worth approximately $ 50 billion, about 86% of the Bank of America stock price at close. This acquisition will make Bank of America the largest financial services company in the world. Temasek Holdings, the largest shareholder of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., will become one of the largest shareholders of Bank of America. Shareholders of both companies approved the acquisition on December 5, 2008, and the deal closed January 1, 2009. The Bank, in its January 16, 2009 earnings release, revealed massive losses at Merrill Lynch in the fourth quarter, which necessitated an emergency government bailout of the Bank to keep it solvent. Merrill recorded an operating loss of $21.5 billion in the quarter, mainly in its sales and trading operations, led by Tom Montag. The Bank also disclosed it tried to abandon the deal in December after the extent of Merrill's trading losses surfaced, but was compelled to complete the merger by the U.S. government. The Bank's stock price sank to $7.18, its lowest level in 17 years, after announcing earnings and the Merrill mishap. The market capitalization of Bank of America, including Merrill Lynch, was then $45 billion, less than the $50 billion it offered for Merrill just four months earlier, and down $108 billion from the merger announcement. Federal bailout Bank of America received US $20 billion in federal bailout from the US government through the TARP program on 16 January 2009 and also got guarantee of US $118 billion in potential losses at the company.This was in addition to the $25 billion given to them in the Fall of 2008 through TARP. The additional payment was part of a deal with the US government to preserve Bank of America's merger with the troubled investment firm Merrill Lynch. Since then, members of the US Congress have expressed considerable concern about how this money has been spent, especially since some of the recipients have been accused of mis-using the bailout money.The Bank's CEO, Ken Lewis, was quoted as claiming "We are still lending, and we are lending far more because of the TARP program." Members of the US House of Representatives, however, were skeptical and quoted many anecdotes about loan applicants (particularly small business owners) being denied loans and credit card holders facing stiffer terms on the debt in their card accounts. According to a March 15, 2009 article in The New York Times, Bank of America received an additional $5.2 billion in government bailout money which was channeled through American International Group. Bank of America divisions Bank of America ATM Typical Bank of America local office Bank of America branch in Lowell, MA Bank of America generates 90% of its revenues in its domestic market and continues to buy businesses in the US. The core of Bank of America's strategy is to be the number one bank in its domestic market. It has achieved this through key acquisitions. Consumer Global Consumer and Small Business Banking (GC&SBB) is the largest division in the company, and deals primarily with consumer banking and credit card issuance. The acquisition of FleetBoston and MBNA significantly expanded its size and range of services, resulting in about 51% of the company's total revenue in 2005. It competes directly with the retail banking divisions of Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. The GC&SBB organization includes over 6,100 retail branches and over 18,700 ATMs across the United States. Bank of America is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are Barclays (United Kingdom), BNP Paribas (France), China Construction Bank (China), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand). This feature is restricted to withdrawals using a debit card, though credit card withdrawals are still subject to cash advance fees and foreign currency conversion fees. Additionally, some foreign ATMs use Smart Card technology and may not accept non-Smart Cards. Bank of America, N.A is a nationally chartered bank, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury. Corporate Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB), also known as Banc of America Securities LLC, provides mergers and acquisitions advisory, underwriting, capital markets, as well as sales & trading in fixed income and equities markets. Its strongest groups include Leveraged Finance, Syndicated Loans, and mortgage-backed securities. It also has one of the largest research teams on Wall Street. Banc of America Securities LLC is based in New York City, with major offices also located in Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, and Mumbai. Ken Lewis, the ambitious chief executive who masterminded the bank's expansion into exotic new businesses including GCIB, bluntly ruled out any further acquisitions in its investment banking division. "I've had all of the fun I can stand in investment banking at the moment," he told analysts. Investment management Global Wealth and Investment Management manages assets of institutions and individuals. It is among the 10 largest U.S. wealth managers (ranked by private banking assets under management in accounts of $1 million or more as of June 30, 2005). In July 2006, Chairman Ken Lewis announced that GWIM's total assets under management exceeded $500 billion. GWIM has five primary lines of business: Premier Banking & Investments (including Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.), The Private Bank, Family Wealth Advisors, Columbia Management Group, and Banc of America Specialist. Bank of America has recently spent $675 million building its US investment banking business and is looking to become one of the top five investment banks worldwide. "Bank of America already has excellent relationships with the corporate and financial institutions world. Its clients include 98% of the Fortune 500 companies in the US and 79% of the Global Fortune 500. These relationships, as well as a balance sheet that most banks would kill for, are the foundations for a lofty ambition." Bank of America is currently constructing a massive new headquarters for its New York City operations. The skyscaper will be located on 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas, at Bryant Park, and will feature state of the art, environmentally-friendly technology throughout its 1.2 million square feet (111,484 m) of office space. The building will be the headquarters for the company's investment banking division, and will also host most of Bank of America's New York-based staff. International operations In 2005, Bank of America acquired a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, China's second largest bank, for $3 billion. It represented the company's largest foray into China's growing banking sector. Bank of America currently has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and is looking to greatly expand its Chinese business as a result of this deal. In 2008 Bank of America was awarded Deal of the Year - Project Finance Deal of the Year at the 2008 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards. Bank of America has invested in India as an emerging market. Currently, Bank of America maintains branches in Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, New Delhi and Bangalore. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 Bank of America reported an 80% increase in net profit. Bank of America operated under the name BankBoston in many other Latin American countries, including Brazil. In 2006, Bank of America sold all BankBoston's operations to Brazilian bank Banco Ita, in exchange for Ita shares. The BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction and, as part of the sale agreement, cannot be used by Bank of America. (That meant the extinction of the BankBoston brand.) Bank of America's Global Corporate and Investment Banking spans the Globe with divisions in United States, Europe and Asia. The U.S. headquarters are located in New York, European headquarters are based in London and Asia's headquarters are split between Singapore & Hong Kong. Board of Directors * William Barnet III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Barnet Company * Frank P. Bramble Sr, Former Executive Officer, MBNA Corporation * John T. Collins, Chief Executive Officer, The Collins Group * Gary L. Countryman, Chairman Emeritus, Liberty Mutual Group * Tommy Franks, Retired General, United States Army * Charles K. Gifford, Former Chairman, Bank of America Corporation * Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation * Monica C. Lozano, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of La Opinion * Walter E. Massey, President Emeritus, Morehouse College * Thomas J. May, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, NSTAR * Patricia E. Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Paley Center for Media * Thomas M. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, CVS Caremark Corporation * O. Temple Sloan, Jr., Chairman, General Parts International * Meredith R. Spangler, Trustee and Board Member * Robert L. Tillman, Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Lowe's * Jackie M. Ward, Retired Chairman/CEO, Computer Generation Major Shareholders Individuals Shares held Kenneth D Lewis 1,780,531 John A Thain 679,946 Bruce L Hammonds 504,429 Keith T Banks 336,371 Charles K Gifford 334,176 Institutions Shares held % held Barclays Global Investors 192,077,414 3.83 State Street Corp 187,394,299 3.73 FMR 152,596,052 3.04 Vanguard Group 142,204,635 2.83 Capital World Investors 114,829,550 2.29 Wellington Management Comp 102,053,133 2.03 AXA 89,824,923 1.79 Bank of New York Mellon Corp 65,284,687 1.30 Morgan Stanley 58,081,288 1.16 JP Morgan Chase & Co 54,816,605 1.09 * data from Yahoo! Finance as of January 1, 2009 Social responsibility In addition to its new eco-friendly office tower in Manhattan, Bank of America has pledged to spend billions on commercial lending and investment banking for projects that it considers "green." The corporation, which already supplied all of its employees with cash incentives to buy hybrid vehicles, is also helping its customers be eco-friendly by rolling out a new credit card program in 2007 that would donate money to helping the environment, as well as providing mortgage loan breaks for customers whose homes qualified as energy efficient. Bank of America has also donated money to help health centers in Massachusettsand made donations to help homeless shelters in Miami. In 2004 the bank pledged $750 billion over a ten-year period for community development lending and investment. The company had delivered more than $230 billion against a ten-year commitment of $350 billion made in 1998 to provide affordable mortgage, build affordable housing, support small business and create jobs in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Diversity and inclusion Bank of America in Washington, D.C. Bank of America was named for the 19th year as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" in 2007 by Working Mother magazine. In 2006 Bank of America was one of the first companies inducted into Working Mother magazine's Hall of Fame. In 2007, DiversityInc ranked Bank of America as the number one company for diversity in this prestigious list and placed as a top employer for executive women, Hispanics, Asian Americans and for GLBT executives, as well as number one for recruitment and retention, and number six for supplier diversity. IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) recognized Bank of America as the "2007 Organization of the Year." This award is presented annually for leadership in the areas of developing and embracing a diverse workforce. National Black MBA Association awarded Bank of America the "2006 Company of the Year" for recruiting, retaining and providing advancement opportunities for blacks in the workplace. It also recognized Bank of America's Managing Director, Deputy Head of Global Investment Banking Lewis Warren, Jr. as one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street." Bank of America was named the number one company for Hispanics by Hispanics Business Magazine in 2006. Latina Style continues to rank Bank of America in their Top 15 for its "50 Best Companies for Latinas" which measures companies based on recruitment, retention and advancement opportunities for Latinas. Human Rights Campaign 2006 Corporate Equality Index gave Bank of America a 100% rating for its support of gay, l*****n, bisexual and transgender associates. Controversies As is the case with many large corporations, some of Bank of America's corporate policies have been controversial. Some policies, such as their overdraft fee policy, and their acceptance of the Matricula Consular as an acceptable form of identification for account opening are widespread in the financial industry. Other controversies have been more specific to Bank of America, such as its involvement in the bankruptcy of the Italian food and dairy conglomerate Parmalat or its receipt of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. These controversies generate a great deal of media attention from critics on all points of the political spectrum.

I DID MY RESEARCH. EVERYTHING THAT I READ IN THE FINANCIAL PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THESE PEOPLE IS SUMMED UP IN THE WIKIPEDIA ONLINE WHICH IS CONSIDERED FREE USE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED. THOSE OF US WHO WERE RAISED IN NEW ORLEANS WILL UNDERSTAND WHY I WOULD NOT WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. See also: Banc of America Securities Bank of America Corporation Type Public (NYSE: BAC) (TYO: 8648) Founded Bank of Italy (1904) NationsBank (1874) Headquarters Charlotte, NC, United States Area served Worldwide Key people Kenneth D. Lewis (Chairman, President and CEO) Joe L. Price, CFO Industry Banking Financial services Investment services Products Finance and insurance Consumer Banking Corporate Banking Investment Banking Investment Management Global Wealth Management Private Equity Mortgage Credit Cards Revenue ? US$124.32 billion (Jan '07)[1] Net income ? US$14.98 billion (Dec '07)[2] Total assets ? US$2.88 trillion (Sep '08)[3] Total equity ? US$146.803 billion[1] Employees 171,587 (February 2009) Website Bankofamerica.com Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest financial services company in the world, largest bank by assets, second largest commercial bank by deposits, and (previously) third largest by market capitalization in the United States. Also, Bank of America is the number one underwriter of global high yield debt, the third largest underwriter of global equity and the ninth largest adviser on global mergers and acquisitions. Bank of America serves clients in more than 150 countries and has a relationship with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. The company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The Bank, once considered one of the winners and healthiest survivors of the 2007 credit crisis, plunged in market value after its purchase of Merrill Lynch. Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy was founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini in 1904, based on catering to immigrants. Amadeo was raised by the Fava/Stanghellini family when his father was shot while trying to collect on a $10.00 debt. When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, Giannini was able to get all of the deposits out of the bank building and away from the fires. In 1922, Giannini established Bank of America and Italy in Italy by buying Banca dell'Italia Meridionale, itself only established in 1918. In the late 1920s, Giannini approached Orra E. Monnette, President and founder of Bank of America, Los Angeles, about a merger between the two entities. The Los Angeles based bank had exhibited strong growth throughout the 1920s, due in part to its success in developing an advanced branch banking system. The merger was completed in early 1929 and took the name Bank of America. The combined company was headed by Giannini with Monnette serving as co-Chair. Growth in California Giannini sought to build a national bank, expanding into most of the western states as well as into the insurance industry, under the aegis of his holding company, Transamerica Corporation. The passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, prohibited banks from owning non-banking subsidiaries such as insurance companies. Bank of America and Transamerica were separated, with the latter company continuing in the insurance business. However, federal banking regulators prohibited Bank of America's interstate banking activity, and Bank of America's domestic banks outside California were forced into a separate company that eventually became First Interstate Bancorp, which was acquired by Wells Fargo and Company in 1996. It was not until the 1980s with a change in federal banking legislation and regulation that Bank of America was again able to expand its domestic consumer banking activity outside California. These technologies also allowed credit cards to be linked directly to individual bank accounts. In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to VISA in 1975.[9] A consortium of other California banks came up with Master Charge (now MasterCard) in order to compete with BankAmericard. Expansion outside of California Bank of America Corporate Center, located in the center of uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. Following the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1967, BankAmerica Corporation was established for the purpose of owning Bank of America and its subsidiaries. BankAmerica expanded outside California in 1983 with its acquisition of Seafirst Corporation of Seattle, Washington, and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Seattle-First National Bank. Seafirst was at risk of seizure by the federal government after becoming insolvent due to a series of bad loans to the oil industry. BankAmerica continued to operate its new subsidiary as Seafirst rather than Bank of America until the 1998 merger with NationsBank. BankAmerica was dealt huge losses in 1986 and 1987 by the placement of a series of bad loans in the Third World, particularly in Latin America. The company fired its CEO, Sam Armacost. Though Armacost blamed the problems on his predecessor, A.W. (Tom) Clausen, Clausen was appointed to replace Armacost. The losses resulted in a huge decline of BankAmerica stock, making it vulnerable to a hostile takeover. First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles (which had originated from banks once owned by BankAmerica), launched such a bid in the fall of 1986, although BankAmerica rebuffed it, mostly by selling operations. It sold its FinanceAmerica subsidiary to Chrysler and the brokerage firm Charles Schwab and Co. back to Mr. Schwab. It also sold Bank of America and Italy to Deutsche Bank. By the time of the 1987 stock market crash, BankAmerica's share price had fallen to $8, but by 1992 it had rebounded mightily to become one of the biggest gainers of that half-decade. BankAmerica's next big acquisition came in 1992. The company acquired its California rival, Security Pacific Corporation and its subsidiary Security Pacific National Bank in California and other banks in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Washington (which Security Pacific had acquired in a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s). This was, at the time, the largest bank acquisition in history. Federal regulators, however, forced the sale of Security Pacific's Washington subsidiary, Rainier Bank, as the combination of Seafirst and Rainier would have given BankAmerica too large a share of the market in that state. The Rainier Bank branches were divided and sold off to West One Bancorp (now U.S. Bancorp) and KeyBank.Later that year, BankAmerica expanded into Nevada by acquiring Valley Bank of Nevada. In 1994, BankAmerica acquired the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago, which had become federally owned as part of the same oil industry debacle emanating from Oklahoma City's Penn Square Bank, that had brought down numerous financial institutions including Seafirst. At the time, no bank had the resources to bail out Continental, so the federal government operated the bank for nearly a decade. Illinois at that time regulated branch banking extremely heavily, so Bank of America Illinois was a single-unit bank until the 21st century. BankAmerica moved its national lending department to Chicago in an effort to establish a financial beachhead in the region. These mergers helped BankAmerica Corporation to once again become the largest U.S. bank holding company in terms of deposits, but the company fell to second place in 1997 behind fast-growing NationsBank Corporation, and to third in 1998 behind North Carolina's First Union Corp. In 1998, BankAmerica was purchased by North Carolina-based NationsBank, and changed the headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. Merger of NationsBank and BankAmerica In 1997, BankAmerica lent D. E. Shaw & Co., a large hedge fund, $1.4bn so that the hedge fund would run various businesses for the bank. However, D.E. Shaw suffered significant loss after the 1998 Russia bond default. BankAmerica was acquired by NationsBank later that year in October. The purchase of BankAmerica Corp. by the NationsBank Corporation was the largest bank acquisition in history at that time. While the deal was technically a purchase of BankAmerica Corporation by NationsBank, the deal was structured as merger with NationsBank renamed to Bank of America Corporation, and Bank of America NT&SA, changing its name to Bank of America, N.A. as the remaining legal bank entity. The bank still operates under Federal Charter 13044 which was granted to Giannini's Bank of Italy on March 1, 1927. However, SEC filings before 1998 are listed under NationsBank, not BankAmerica. Following the US$64.8 billion acquisition of BankAmerica by NationsBank, the resulting Bank of America had combined assets of US$570 billion, as well as 4,800 branches in 22 states. Despite the mammoth size of the two companies, federal regulators insisted only upon the divestiture of 13 branches in New Mexico, in towns that would be left with only a single bank following the combination. This is because branch divestitures are only required if the combined company will have a larger than 25 percent FDIC deposit market share in a particular state or 10 percent deposit market share overall. History since 2001 In 2001, Bank of America CEO and chairman Hugh McColl stepped down and named Ken Lewis as his successor. Lewis's greater focus on financial discipline and efficiency contrasted greatly with the expansionary mergers and acquisition strategy of his predecessor. Acquisition of FleetBoston Financial In 2004, Bank of America announced it would purchase Boston-based bank FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in cash and stock.By merging with Bank of America, all of its banks and branches were given the Bank of America logo. At the time of merger, FleetBoston was the seventh largest bank in United States with $197 billion in assets, over 20 million customers and revenue of $12 billion. Purchase of MBNA On 30 June 2005, Bank of America announced it would purchase credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion in cash and stock. The Federal Reserve Board gave final approval to the merger on 15 December 2005, and the merger closed on 1 January 2006. The acquisition of MBNA provided Bank of America a leading credit card issuer at home and abroad. The combined Bank of America Card Services organization, including the former MBNAhad more than 40 million U.S. accounts and nearly $140 billion in outstanding balances. Divestiture of operations in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay In May 2006, Bank of America and Banco Ita (Investimentos Ita S.A.) entered into an acquisition agreement through which Ita agreed to acquire BankBoston's operations in Brazil and was granted an exclusive right to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. A deal was signed in August 2006 under which Ita agreed to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. Prior to the transaction, BankBoston's Brazilian operations included asset management, private banking, a credit card portfolio, and small, middle-market, and large corporate segments. It had 66 branches and 203,000 clients in Brazil. BankBoston in Chile had 44 branches and 58,000 clients and in Uruguay it had 15 branches. In addition, there was a credit card company, OCA, in Uruguay, which had 23 branches. BankBoston N.A. in Uruguay, together with OCA, jointly served 372,000 clients. While the BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction, as part of the sale agreement, they cannot be used by Bank of America in Brazil, Chile or Uruguay following the transactions. Hence, the BankBoston name has disappeared from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The Ita stock received by Bank of America in the transactions has allowed Bank of America's stake in Ita to reach 11.51%. Banco Boston do Brazil had been founded in 1947. Purchase of US Trust On 20 November 2006, Bank of America announced the purchase of The United States Trust Company for $3.3 billion, from the Charles Schwab Corporation. US Trust had about $100 billion of Assets Under Management and over 150 years of experience. The deal closed 1 July 2007. Acquisition of ABN AMRO North America and LaSalle Bank On September 14, 2007, Bank of America won approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire ABN AMRO N.A. and LaSalle Bank Corporation from Netherlands's ABN AMRO for $21 billion. With this combination Bank of America will have 1.7 trillion in assets. A Dutch court blocked the sale until it was later approved in July. The acquisition was completed on October 1, 2007. The deal increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana by 411 branches, 17,000 commercial bank clients, 1.4 million retail customers and 1,500 ATMs. Bank of America has become the largest bank in the Chicago market with 197 offices and 14% of the deposit share, passing up JPMorgan Chase. LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on 5 May 2008. Acquisition of Countrywide Financial On August 23, 2007 the company announced a $2 billion repurchase agreement for Countrywide Financial. This purchase of preferred stock was arranged to provide a return on investment of 7.25% per annum and provided the option to purchase common stock at a price of $18 per share. Following that initial investment, on January 11, 2008, Bank of America announced that they would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion.This acquisition, which closed on July 1, 2008, gave the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's expertise, technology, and employees for servicing mortgages.The acquisition was seen as preventing the potential of bankruptcy for Countrywide. Countrywide, however, denied that it was close to bankruptcy. Countrywide provides mortgage servicing for nine million mortgages valued at $1.4 trillion USD as of December 31, 2007. However, Countrywide is under FBI investigation due to possible fraud in home loans and mortgages, therefore Bank of America states that by 2009 they will only be "officially" affiliated to Countrywide. On July 1, 2008, Bank of America Corporation completed its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corporation. This purchase made it the USA's leading mortgage originator and servicer, controlling between 20 to 25 percent of the home loan market.[19] The deal was structured to merge Countrywide with the Red Oak Merger Corporation, which Bank of America created as an independent subsidiary. It has been suggested that the deal was structured this way to prevent a potential bankruptcy stemming from large losses in Countrywide hurting the parent organization by keeping Countrywide bankruptcy remote. Acquisition of Merrill Lynch On September 15, 2008, Bank of America announced its intentions to purchase Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in an all-stock deal worth approximately $ 50 billion, about 86% of the Bank of America stock price at close. This acquisition will make Bank of America the largest financial services company in the world. Temasek Holdings, the largest shareholder of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., will become one of the largest shareholders of Bank of America. Shareholders of both companies approved the acquisition on December 5, 2008, and the deal closed January 1, 2009. The Bank, in its January 16, 2009 earnings release, revealed massive losses at Merrill Lynch in the fourth quarter, which necessitated an emergency government bailout of the Bank to keep it solvent. Merrill recorded an operating loss of $21.5 billion in the quarter, mainly in its sales and trading operations, led by Tom Montag. The Bank also disclosed it tried to abandon the deal in December after the extent of Merrill's trading losses surfaced, but was compelled to complete the merger by the U.S. government. The Bank's stock price sank to $7.18, its lowest level in 17 years, after announcing earnings and the Merrill mishap. The market capitalization of Bank of America, including Merrill Lynch, was then $45 billion, less than the $50 billion it offered for Merrill just four months earlier, and down $108 billion from the merger announcement. Federal bailout Bank of America received US $20 billion in federal bailout from the US government through the TARP program on 16 January 2009 and also got guarantee of US $118 billion in potential losses at the company.This was in addition to the $25 billion given to them in the Fall of 2008 through TARP. The additional payment was part of a deal with the US government to preserve Bank of America's merger with the troubled investment firm Merrill Lynch. Since then, members of the US Congress have expressed considerable concern about how this money has been spent, especially since some of the recipients have been accused of mis-using the bailout money.The Bank's CEO, Ken Lewis, was quoted as claiming "We are still lending, and we are lending far more because of the TARP program." Members of the US House of Representatives, however, were skeptical and quoted many anecdotes about loan applicants (particularly small business owners) being denied loans and credit card holders facing stiffer terms on the debt in their card accounts. According to a March 15, 2009 article in The New York Times, Bank of America received an additional $5.2 billion in government bailout money which was channeled through American International Group. Bank of America divisions Bank of America ATM Typical Bank of America local office Bank of America branch in Lowell, MA Bank of America generates 90% of its revenues in its domestic market and continues to buy businesses in the US. The core of Bank of America's strategy is to be the number one bank in its domestic market. It has achieved this through key acquisitions. Consumer Global Consumer and Small Business Banking (GC&SBB) is the largest division in the company, and deals primarily with consumer banking and credit card issuance. The acquisition of FleetBoston and MBNA significantly expanded its size and range of services, resulting in about 51% of the company's total revenue in 2005. It competes directly with the retail banking divisions of Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. The GC&SBB organization includes over 6,100 retail branches and over 18,700 ATMs across the United States. Bank of America is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are Barclays (United Kingdom), BNP Paribas (France), China Construction Bank (China), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand). This feature is restricted to withdrawals using a debit card, though credit card withdrawals are still subject to cash advance fees and foreign currency conversion fees. Additionally, some foreign ATMs use Smart Card technology and may not accept non-Smart Cards. Bank of America, N.A is a nationally chartered bank, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury. Corporate Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB), also known as Banc of America Securities LLC, provides mergers and acquisitions advisory, underwriting, capital markets, as well as sales & trading in fixed income and equities markets. Its strongest groups include Leveraged Finance, Syndicated Loans, and mortgage-backed securities. It also has one of the largest research teams on Wall Street. Banc of America Securities LLC is based in New York City, with major offices also located in Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, and Mumbai. Ken Lewis, the ambitious chief executive who masterminded the bank's expansion into exotic new businesses including GCIB, bluntly ruled out any further acquisitions in its investment banking division. "I've had all of the fun I can stand in investment banking at the moment," he told analysts. Investment management Global Wealth and Investment Management manages assets of institutions and individuals. It is among the 10 largest U.S. wealth managers (ranked by private banking assets under management in accounts of $1 million or more as of June 30, 2005). In July 2006, Chairman Ken Lewis announced that GWIM's total assets under management exceeded $500 billion. GWIM has five primary lines of business: Premier Banking & Investments (including Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.), The Private Bank, Family Wealth Advisors, Columbia Management Group, and Banc of America Specialist. Bank of America has recently spent $675 million building its US investment banking business and is looking to become one of the top five investment banks worldwide. "Bank of America already has excellent relationships with the corporate and financial institutions world. Its clients include 98% of the Fortune 500 companies in the US and 79% of the Global Fortune 500. These relationships, as well as a balance sheet that most banks would kill for, are the foundations for a lofty ambition." Bank of America is currently constructing a massive new headquarters for its New York City operations. The skyscaper will be located on 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas, at Bryant Park, and will feature state of the art, environmentally-friendly technology throughout its 1.2 million square feet (111,484 m) of office space. The building will be the headquarters for the company's investment banking division, and will also host most of Bank of America's New York-based staff. International operations In 2005, Bank of America acquired a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, China's second largest bank, for $3 billion. It represented the company's largest foray into China's growing banking sector. Bank of America currently has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and is looking to greatly expand its Chinese business as a result of this deal. In 2008 Bank of America was awarded Deal of the Year - Project Finance Deal of the Year at the 2008 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards. Bank of America has invested in India as an emerging market. Currently, Bank of America maintains branches in Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, New Delhi and Bangalore. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 Bank of America reported an 80% increase in net profit. Bank of America operated under the name BankBoston in many other Latin American countries, including Brazil. In 2006, Bank of America sold all BankBoston's operations to Brazilian bank Banco Ita, in exchange for Ita shares. The BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction and, as part of the sale agreement, cannot be used by Bank of America. (That meant the extinction of the BankBoston brand.) Bank of America's Global Corporate and Investment Banking spans the Globe with divisions in United States, Europe and Asia. The U.S. headquarters are located in New York, European headquarters are based in London and Asia's headquarters are split between Singapore & Hong Kong. Board of Directors * William Barnet III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Barnet Company * Frank P. Bramble Sr, Former Executive Officer, MBNA Corporation * John T. Collins, Chief Executive Officer, The Collins Group * Gary L. Countryman, Chairman Emeritus, Liberty Mutual Group * Tommy Franks, Retired General, United States Army * Charles K. Gifford, Former Chairman, Bank of America Corporation * Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation * Monica C. Lozano, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of La Opinion * Walter E. Massey, President Emeritus, Morehouse College * Thomas J. May, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, NSTAR * Patricia E. Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Paley Center for Media * Thomas M. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, CVS Caremark Corporation * O. Temple Sloan, Jr., Chairman, General Parts International * Meredith R. Spangler, Trustee and Board Member * Robert L. Tillman, Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Lowe's * Jackie M. Ward, Retired Chairman/CEO, Computer Generation Major Shareholders Individuals Shares held Kenneth D Lewis 1,780,531 John A Thain 679,946 Bruce L Hammonds 504,429 Keith T Banks 336,371 Charles K Gifford 334,176 Institutions Shares held % held Barclays Global Investors 192,077,414 3.83 State Street Corp 187,394,299 3.73 FMR 152,596,052 3.04 Vanguard Group 142,204,635 2.83 Capital World Investors 114,829,550 2.29 Wellington Management Comp 102,053,133 2.03 AXA 89,824,923 1.79 Bank of New York Mellon Corp 65,284,687 1.30 Morgan Stanley 58,081,288 1.16 JP Morgan Chase & Co 54,816,605 1.09 * data from Yahoo! Finance as of January 1, 2009 Social responsibility In addition to its new eco-friendly office tower in Manhattan, Bank of America has pledged to spend billions on commercial lending and investment banking for projects that it considers "green." The corporation, which already supplied all of its employees with cash incentives to buy hybrid vehicles, is also helping its customers be eco-friendly by rolling out a new credit card program in 2007 that would donate money to helping the environment, as well as providing mortgage loan breaks for customers whose homes qualified as energy efficient. Bank of America has also donated money to help health centers in Massachusettsand made donations to help homeless shelters in Miami. In 2004 the bank pledged $750 billion over a ten-year period for community development lending and investment. The company had delivered more than $230 billion against a ten-year commitment of $350 billion made in 1998 to provide affordable mortgage, build affordable housing, support small business and create jobs in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Diversity and inclusion Bank of America in Washington, D.C. Bank of America was named for the 19th year as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" in 2007 by Working Mother magazine. In 2006 Bank of America was one of the first companies inducted into Working Mother magazine's Hall of Fame. In 2007, DiversityInc ranked Bank of America as the number one company for diversity in this prestigious list and placed as a top employer for executive women, Hispanics, Asian Americans and for GLBT executives, as well as number one for recruitment and retention, and number six for supplier diversity. IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) recognized Bank of America as the "2007 Organization of the Year." This award is presented annually for leadership in the areas of developing and embracing a diverse workforce. National Black MBA Association awarded Bank of America the "2006 Company of the Year" for recruiting, retaining and providing advancement opportunities for blacks in the workplace. It also recognized Bank of America's Managing Director, Deputy Head of Global Investment Banking Lewis Warren, Jr. as one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street." Bank of America was named the number one company for Hispanics by Hispanics Business Magazine in 2006. Latina Style continues to rank Bank of America in their Top 15 for its "50 Best Companies for Latinas" which measures companies based on recruitment, retention and advancement opportunities for Latinas. Human Rights Campaign 2006 Corporate Equality Index gave Bank of America a 100% rating for its support of gay, l*****n, bisexual and transgender associates. Controversies As is the case with many large corporations, some of Bank of America's corporate policies have been controversial. Some policies, such as their overdraft fee policy, and their acceptance of the Matricula Consular as an acceptable form of identification for account opening are widespread in the financial industry. Other controversies have been more specific to Bank of America, such as its involvement in the bankruptcy of the Italian food and dairy conglomerate Parmalat or its receipt of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. These controversies generate a great deal of media attention from critics on all points of the political spectrum.

I DID MY RESEARCH. EVERYTHING THAT I READ IN THE FINANCIAL PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THESE PEOPLE IS SUMMED UP IN THE WIKIPEDIA ONLINE WHICH IS CONSIDERED FREE USE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED. THOSE OF US WHO WERE RAISED IN NEW ORLEANS WILL UNDERSTAND WHY I WOULD NOT WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. See also: Banc of America Securities Bank of America Corporation Type Public (NYSE: BAC) (TYO: 8648) Founded Bank of Italy (1904) NationsBank (1874) Headquarters Charlotte, NC, United States Area served Worldwide Key people Kenneth D. Lewis (Chairman, President and CEO) Joe L. Price, CFO Industry Banking Financial services Investment services Products Finance and insurance Consumer Banking Corporate Banking Investment Banking Investment Management Global Wealth Management Private Equity Mortgage Credit Cards Revenue ? US$124.32 billion (Jan '07)[1] Net income ? US$14.98 billion (Dec '07)[2] Total assets ? US$2.88 trillion (Sep '08)[3] Total equity ? US$146.803 billion[1] Employees 171,587 (February 2009) Website Bankofamerica.com Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest financial services company in the world, largest bank by assets, second largest commercial bank by deposits, and (previously) third largest by market capitalization in the United States. Also, Bank of America is the number one underwriter of global high yield debt, the third largest underwriter of global equity and the ninth largest adviser on global mergers and acquisitions. Bank of America serves clients in more than 150 countries and has a relationship with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. The company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The Bank, once considered one of the winners and healthiest survivors of the 2007 credit crisis, plunged in market value after its purchase of Merrill Lynch. Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy was founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini in 1904, based on catering to immigrants. Amadeo was raised by the Fava/Stanghellini family when his father was shot while trying to collect on a $10.00 debt. When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, Giannini was able to get all of the deposits out of the bank building and away from the fires. In 1922, Giannini established Bank of America and Italy in Italy by buying Banca dell'Italia Meridionale, itself only established in 1918. In the late 1920s, Giannini approached Orra E. Monnette, President and founder of Bank of America, Los Angeles, about a merger between the two entities. The Los Angeles based bank had exhibited strong growth throughout the 1920s, due in part to its success in developing an advanced branch banking system. The merger was completed in early 1929 and took the name Bank of America. The combined company was headed by Giannini with Monnette serving as co-Chair. Growth in California Giannini sought to build a national bank, expanding into most of the western states as well as into the insurance industry, under the aegis of his holding company, Transamerica Corporation. The passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, prohibited banks from owning non-banking subsidiaries such as insurance companies. Bank of America and Transamerica were separated, with the latter company continuing in the insurance business. However, federal banking regulators prohibited Bank of America's interstate banking activity, and Bank of America's domestic banks outside California were forced into a separate company that eventually became First Interstate Bancorp, which was acquired by Wells Fargo and Company in 1996. It was not until the 1980s with a change in federal banking legislation and regulation that Bank of America was again able to expand its domestic consumer banking activity outside California. These technologies also allowed credit cards to be linked directly to individual bank accounts. In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to VISA in 1975.[9] A consortium of other California banks came up with Master Charge (now MasterCard) in order to compete with BankAmericard. Expansion outside of California Bank of America Corporate Center, located in the center of uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. Following the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1967, BankAmerica Corporation was established for the purpose of owning Bank of America and its subsidiaries. BankAmerica expanded outside California in 1983 with its acquisition of Seafirst Corporation of Seattle, Washington, and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Seattle-First National Bank. Seafirst was at risk of seizure by the federal government after becoming insolvent due to a series of bad loans to the oil industry. BankAmerica continued to operate its new subsidiary as Seafirst rather than Bank of America until the 1998 merger with NationsBank. BankAmerica was dealt huge losses in 1986 and 1987 by the placement of a series of bad loans in the Third World, particularly in Latin America. The company fired its CEO, Sam Armacost. Though Armacost blamed the problems on his predecessor, A.W. (Tom) Clausen, Clausen was appointed to replace Armacost. The losses resulted in a huge decline of BankAmerica stock, making it vulnerable to a hostile takeover. First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles (which had originated from banks once owned by BankAmerica), launched such a bid in the fall of 1986, although BankAmerica rebuffed it, mostly by selling operations. It sold its FinanceAmerica subsidiary to Chrysler and the brokerage firm Charles Schwab and Co. back to Mr. Schwab. It also sold Bank of America and Italy to Deutsche Bank. By the time of the 1987 stock market crash, BankAmerica's share price had fallen to $8, but by 1992 it had rebounded mightily to become one of the biggest gainers of that half-decade. BankAmerica's next big acquisition came in 1992. The company acquired its California rival, Security Pacific Corporation and its subsidiary Security Pacific National Bank in California and other banks in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Washington (which Security Pacific had acquired in a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s). This was, at the time, the largest bank acquisition in history. Federal regulators, however, forced the sale of Security Pacific's Washington subsidiary, Rainier Bank, as the combination of Seafirst and Rainier would have given BankAmerica too large a share of the market in that state. The Rainier Bank branches were divided and sold off to West One Bancorp (now U.S. Bancorp) and KeyBank.Later that year, BankAmerica expanded into Nevada by acquiring Valley Bank of Nevada. In 1994, BankAmerica acquired the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago, which had become federally owned as part of the same oil industry debacle emanating from Oklahoma City's Penn Square Bank, that had brought down numerous financial institutions including Seafirst. At the time, no bank had the resources to bail out Continental, so the federal government operated the bank for nearly a decade. Illinois at that time regulated branch banking extremely heavily, so Bank of America Illinois was a single-unit bank until the 21st century. BankAmerica moved its national lending department to Chicago in an effort to establish a financial beachhead in the region. These mergers helped BankAmerica Corporation to once again become the largest U.S. bank holding company in terms of deposits, but the company fell to second place in 1997 behind fast-growing NationsBank Corporation, and to third in 1998 behind North Carolina's First Union Corp. In 1998, BankAmerica was purchased by North Carolina-based NationsBank, and changed the headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. Merger of NationsBank and BankAmerica In 1997, BankAmerica lent D. E. Shaw & Co., a large hedge fund, $1.4bn so that the hedge fund would run various businesses for the bank. However, D.E. Shaw suffered significant loss after the 1998 Russia bond default. BankAmerica was acquired by NationsBank later that year in October. The purchase of BankAmerica Corp. by the NationsBank Corporation was the largest bank acquisition in history at that time. While the deal was technically a purchase of BankAmerica Corporation by NationsBank, the deal was structured as merger with NationsBank renamed to Bank of America Corporation, and Bank of America NT&SA, changing its name to Bank of America, N.A. as the remaining legal bank entity. The bank still operates under Federal Charter 13044 which was granted to Giannini's Bank of Italy on March 1, 1927. However, SEC filings before 1998 are listed under NationsBank, not BankAmerica. Following the US$64.8 billion acquisition of BankAmerica by NationsBank, the resulting Bank of America had combined assets of US$570 billion, as well as 4,800 branches in 22 states. Despite the mammoth size of the two companies, federal regulators insisted only upon the divestiture of 13 branches in New Mexico, in towns that would be left with only a single bank following the combination. This is because branch divestitures are only required if the combined company will have a larger than 25 percent FDIC deposit market share in a particular state or 10 percent deposit market share overall. History since 2001 In 2001, Bank of America CEO and chairman Hugh McColl stepped down and named Ken Lewis as his successor. Lewis's greater focus on financial discipline and efficiency contrasted greatly with the expansionary mergers and acquisition strategy of his predecessor. Acquisition of FleetBoston Financial In 2004, Bank of America announced it would purchase Boston-based bank FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in cash and stock.By merging with Bank of America, all of its banks and branches were given the Bank of America logo. At the time of merger, FleetBoston was the seventh largest bank in United States with $197 billion in assets, over 20 million customers and revenue of $12 billion. Purchase of MBNA On 30 June 2005, Bank of America announced it would purchase credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion in cash and stock. The Federal Reserve Board gave final approval to the merger on 15 December 2005, and the merger closed on 1 January 2006. The acquisition of MBNA provided Bank of America a leading credit card issuer at home and abroad. The combined Bank of America Card Services organization, including the former MBNAhad more than 40 million U.S. accounts and nearly $140 billion in outstanding balances. Divestiture of operations in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay In May 2006, Bank of America and Banco Ita (Investimentos Ita S.A.) entered into an acquisition agreement through which Ita agreed to acquire BankBoston's operations in Brazil and was granted an exclusive right to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. A deal was signed in August 2006 under which Ita agreed to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. Prior to the transaction, BankBoston's Brazilian operations included asset management, private banking, a credit card portfolio, and small, middle-market, and large corporate segments. It had 66 branches and 203,000 clients in Brazil. BankBoston in Chile had 44 branches and 58,000 clients and in Uruguay it had 15 branches. In addition, there was a credit card company, OCA, in Uruguay, which had 23 branches. BankBoston N.A. in Uruguay, together with OCA, jointly served 372,000 clients. While the BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction, as part of the sale agreement, they cannot be used by Bank of America in Brazil, Chile or Uruguay following the transactions. Hence, the BankBoston name has disappeared from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The Ita stock received by Bank of America in the transactions has allowed Bank of America's stake in Ita to reach 11.51%. Banco Boston do Brazil had been founded in 1947. Purchase of US Trust On 20 November 2006, Bank of America announced the purchase of The United States Trust Company for $3.3 billion, from the Charles Schwab Corporation. US Trust had about $100 billion of Assets Under Management and over 150 years of experience. The deal closed 1 July 2007. Acquisition of ABN AMRO North America and LaSalle Bank On September 14, 2007, Bank of America won approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire ABN AMRO N.A. and LaSalle Bank Corporation from Netherlands's ABN AMRO for $21 billion. With this combination Bank of America will have 1.7 trillion in assets. A Dutch court blocked the sale until it was later approved in July. The acquisition was completed on October 1, 2007. The deal increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana by 411 branches, 17,000 commercial bank clients, 1.4 million retail customers and 1,500 ATMs. Bank of America has become the largest bank in the Chicago market with 197 offices and 14% of the deposit share, passing up JPMorgan Chase. LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on 5 May 2008. Acquisition of Countrywide Financial On August 23, 2007 the company announced a $2 billion repurchase agreement for Countrywide Financial. This purchase of preferred stock was arranged to provide a return on investment of 7.25% per annum and provided the option to purchase common stock at a price of $18 per share. Following that initial investment, on January 11, 2008, Bank of America announced that they would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion.This acquisition, which closed on July 1, 2008, gave the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's expertise, technology, and employees for servicing mortgages.The acquisition was seen as preventing the potential of bankruptcy for Countrywide. Countrywide, however, denied that it was close to bankruptcy. Countrywide provides mortgage servicing for nine million mortgages valued at $1.4 trillion USD as of December 31, 2007. However, Countrywide is under FBI investigation due to possible fraud in home loans and mortgages, therefore Bank of America states that by 2009 they will only be "officially" affiliated to Countrywide. On July 1, 2008, Bank of America Corporation completed its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corporation. This purchase made it the USA's leading mortgage originator and servicer, controlling between 20 to 25 percent of the home loan market.[19] The deal was structured to merge Countrywide with the Red Oak Merger Corporation, which Bank of America created as an independent subsidiary. It has been suggested that the deal was structured this way to prevent a potential bankruptcy stemming from large losses in Countrywide hurting the parent organization by keeping Countrywide bankruptcy remote. Acquisition of Merrill Lynch On September 15, 2008, Bank of America announced its intentions to purchase Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in an all-stock deal worth approximately $ 50 billion, about 86% of the Bank of America stock price at close. This acquisition will make Bank of America the largest financial services company in the world. Temasek Holdings, the largest shareholder of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., will become one of the largest shareholders of Bank of America. Shareholders of both companies approved the acquisition on December 5, 2008, and the deal closed January 1, 2009. The Bank, in its January 16, 2009 earnings release, revealed massive losses at Merrill Lynch in the fourth quarter, which necessitated an emergency government bailout of the Bank to keep it solvent. Merrill recorded an operating loss of $21.5 billion in the quarter, mainly in its sales and trading operations, led by Tom Montag. The Bank also disclosed it tried to abandon the deal in December after the extent of Merrill's trading losses surfaced, but was compelled to complete the merger by the U.S. government. The Bank's stock price sank to $7.18, its lowest level in 17 years, after announcing earnings and the Merrill mishap. The market capitalization of Bank of America, including Merrill Lynch, was then $45 billion, less than the $50 billion it offered for Merrill just four months earlier, and down $108 billion from the merger announcement. Federal bailout Bank of America received US $20 billion in federal bailout from the US government through the TARP program on 16 January 2009 and also got guarantee of US $118 billion in potential losses at the company.This was in addition to the $25 billion given to them in the Fall of 2008 through TARP. The additional payment was part of a deal with the US government to preserve Bank of America's merger with the troubled investment firm Merrill Lynch. Since then, members of the US Congress have expressed considerable concern about how this money has been spent, especially since some of the recipients have been accused of mis-using the bailout money.The Bank's CEO, Ken Lewis, was quoted as claiming "We are still lending, and we are lending far more because of the TARP program." Members of the US House of Representatives, however, were skeptical and quoted many anecdotes about loan applicants (particularly small business owners) being denied loans and credit card holders facing stiffer terms on the debt in their card accounts. According to a March 15, 2009 article in The New York Times, Bank of America received an additional $5.2 billion in government bailout money which was channeled through American International Group. Bank of America divisions Bank of America ATM Typical Bank of America local office Bank of America branch in Lowell, MA Bank of America generates 90% of its revenues in its domestic market and continues to buy businesses in the US. The core of Bank of America's strategy is to be the number one bank in its domestic market. It has achieved this through key acquisitions. Consumer Global Consumer and Small Business Banking (GC&SBB) is the largest division in the company, and deals primarily with consumer banking and credit card issuance. The acquisition of FleetBoston and MBNA significantly expanded its size and range of services, resulting in about 51% of the company's total revenue in 2005. It competes directly with the retail banking divisions of Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. The GC&SBB organization includes over 6,100 retail branches and over 18,700 ATMs across the United States. Bank of America is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are Barclays (United Kingdom), BNP Paribas (France), China Construction Bank (China), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand). This feature is restricted to withdrawals using a debit card, though credit card withdrawals are still subject to cash advance fees and foreign currency conversion fees. Additionally, some foreign ATMs use Smart Card technology and may not accept non-Smart Cards. Bank of America, N.A is a nationally chartered bank, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury. Corporate Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB), also known as Banc of America Securities LLC, provides mergers and acquisitions advisory, underwriting, capital markets, as well as sales & trading in fixed income and equities markets. Its strongest groups include Leveraged Finance, Syndicated Loans, and mortgage-backed securities. It also has one of the largest research teams on Wall Street. Banc of America Securities LLC is based in New York City, with major offices also located in Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, and Mumbai. Ken Lewis, the ambitious chief executive who masterminded the bank's expansion into exotic new businesses including GCIB, bluntly ruled out any further acquisitions in its investment banking division. "I've had all of the fun I can stand in investment banking at the moment," he told analysts. Investment management Global Wealth and Investment Management manages assets of institutions and individuals. It is among the 10 largest U.S. wealth managers (ranked by private banking assets under management in accounts of $1 million or more as of June 30, 2005). In July 2006, Chairman Ken Lewis announced that GWIM's total assets under management exceeded $500 billion. GWIM has five primary lines of business: Premier Banking & Investments (including Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.), The Private Bank, Family Wealth Advisors, Columbia Management Group, and Banc of America Specialist. Bank of America has recently spent $675 million building its US investment banking business and is looking to become one of the top five investment banks worldwide. "Bank of America already has excellent relationships with the corporate and financial institutions world. Its clients include 98% of the Fortune 500 companies in the US and 79% of the Global Fortune 500. These relationships, as well as a balance sheet that most banks would kill for, are the foundations for a lofty ambition." Bank of America is currently constructing a massive new headquarters for its New York City operations. The skyscaper will be located on 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas, at Bryant Park, and will feature state of the art, environmentally-friendly technology throughout its 1.2 million square feet (111,484 m) of office space. The building will be the headquarters for the company's investment banking division, and will also host most of Bank of America's New York-based staff. International operations In 2005, Bank of America acquired a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, China's second largest bank, for $3 billion. It represented the company's largest foray into China's growing banking sector. Bank of America currently has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and is looking to greatly expand its Chinese business as a result of this deal. In 2008 Bank of America was awarded Deal of the Year - Project Finance Deal of the Year at the 2008 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards. Bank of America has invested in India as an emerging market. Currently, Bank of America maintains branches in Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, New Delhi and Bangalore. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 Bank of America reported an 80% increase in net profit. Bank of America operated under the name BankBoston in many other Latin American countries, including Brazil. In 2006, Bank of America sold all BankBoston's operations to Brazilian bank Banco Ita, in exchange for Ita shares. The BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction and, as part of the sale agreement, cannot be used by Bank of America. (That meant the extinction of the BankBoston brand.) Bank of America's Global Corporate and Investment Banking spans the Globe with divisions in United States, Europe and Asia. The U.S. headquarters are located in New York, European headquarters are based in London and Asia's headquarters are split between Singapore & Hong Kong. Board of Directors * William Barnet III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Barnet Company * Frank P. Bramble Sr, Former Executive Officer, MBNA Corporation * John T. Collins, Chief Executive Officer, The Collins Group * Gary L. Countryman, Chairman Emeritus, Liberty Mutual Group * Tommy Franks, Retired General, United States Army * Charles K. Gifford, Former Chairman, Bank of America Corporation * Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation * Monica C. Lozano, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of La Opinion * Walter E. Massey, President Emeritus, Morehouse College * Thomas J. May, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, NSTAR * Patricia E. Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Paley Center for Media * Thomas M. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, CVS Caremark Corporation * O. Temple Sloan, Jr., Chairman, General Parts International * Meredith R. Spangler, Trustee and Board Member * Robert L. Tillman, Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Lowe's * Jackie M. Ward, Retired Chairman/CEO, Computer Generation Major Shareholders Individuals Shares held Kenneth D Lewis 1,780,531 John A Thain 679,946 Bruce L Hammonds 504,429 Keith T Banks 336,371 Charles K Gifford 334,176 Institutions Shares held % held Barclays Global Investors 192,077,414 3.83 State Street Corp 187,394,299 3.73 FMR 152,596,052 3.04 Vanguard Group 142,204,635 2.83 Capital World Investors 114,829,550 2.29 Wellington Management Comp 102,053,133 2.03 AXA 89,824,923 1.79 Bank of New York Mellon Corp 65,284,687 1.30 Morgan Stanley 58,081,288 1.16 JP Morgan Chase & Co 54,816,605 1.09 * data from Yahoo! Finance as of January 1, 2009 Social responsibility In addition to its new eco-friendly office tower in Manhattan, Bank of America has pledged to spend billions on commercial lending and investment banking for projects that it considers "green." The corporation, which already supplied all of its employees with cash incentives to buy hybrid vehicles, is also helping its customers be eco-friendly by rolling out a new credit card program in 2007 that would donate money to helping the environment, as well as providing mortgage loan breaks for customers whose homes qualified as energy efficient. Bank of America has also donated money to help health centers in Massachusettsand made donations to help homeless shelters in Miami. In 2004 the bank pledged $750 billion over a ten-year period for community development lending and investment. The company had delivered more than $230 billion against a ten-year commitment of $350 billion made in 1998 to provide affordable mortgage, build affordable housing, support small business and create jobs in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Diversity and inclusion Bank of America in Washington, D.C. Bank of America was named for the 19th year as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" in 2007 by Working Mother magazine. In 2006 Bank of America was one of the first companies inducted into Working Mother magazine's Hall of Fame. In 2007, DiversityInc ranked Bank of America as the number one company for diversity in this prestigious list and placed as a top employer for executive women, Hispanics, Asian Americans and for GLBT executives, as well as number one for recruitment and retention, and number six for supplier diversity. IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) recognized Bank of America as the "2007 Organization of the Year." This award is presented annually for leadership in the areas of developing and embracing a diverse workforce. National Black MBA Association awarded Bank of America the "2006 Company of the Year" for recruiting, retaining and providing advancement opportunities for blacks in the workplace. It also recognized Bank of America's Managing Director, Deputy Head of Global Investment Banking Lewis Warren, Jr. as one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street." Bank of America was named the number one company for Hispanics by Hispanics Business Magazine in 2006. Latina Style continues to rank Bank of America in their Top 15 for its "50 Best Companies for Latinas" which measures companies based on recruitment, retention and advancement opportunities for Latinas. Human Rights Campaign 2006 Corporate Equality Index gave Bank of America a 100% rating for its support of gay, l*****n, bisexual and transgender associates. Controversies As is the case with many large corporations, some of Bank of America's corporate policies have been controversial. Some policies, such as their overdraft fee policy, and their acceptance of the Matricula Consular as an acceptable form of identification for account opening are widespread in the financial industry. Other controversies have been more specific to Bank of America, such as its involvement in the bankruptcy of the Italian food and dairy conglomerate Parmalat or its receipt of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. These controversies generate a great deal of media attention from critics on all points of the political spectrum.

You must 'Google' this- 6 WHO DODGED THE BEAR STEARNS BULLET, in order to read the Fortune article about these executives. It looks as though Warren Spector cashed-in for over $91 MILLION, didn't he? REMEMBER, Bear Stearns COLLAPSED, didn't they? Thank you. WELCOME TO AMERICA- IN FRAUD WE TRUST!

the investors, & the customers, I'll bet the government would loan you all the money you wanted, wouldn't you agree? WELCOME TO AMERICA- IN FRAUD WE TRUST! 'Google' this- FIVE FORMER INSURANCE EXECS FOUND GUILTY OF FRAUD, and read it! It's from LAST YEAR. Look who was named- AIG! 'Google' this- SIX BEAR STEARNS EXECS WHO DODGED THE BULLET, and read it! It's from LAST YEAR! Look at how much Warren Spector got BEFORE Bear Stearns COLLAPSED! Over $91 MILLION! WELCOME TO AMERICA- ONE FAT LIE!