CEO Stan O'Neal

A House oversight panel is examining the $45 billion federal bailout of Bank of America Corp. and its shotgun acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. last year at the height of the financial crisis. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating the government's role in pushing the hastily arranged takeover of Merrill Lynch, the tumultuous events surrounding the deal and the payment of billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill employees. The panel has previously asked Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, to hand over related documents. The committee is scheduled to hold a hearing at 10 a.m. ... Read Full Story

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional panel accused Bank of America Corp <BAC.N> on Tuesday of knowing about Merrill Lynch & Co's huge losses as early as November 2008, suggesting the bank lied to investors in saying it did not grasp the depth of the problems until the following month. Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unveiled internal Bank of America documents they said show the bank was alarmed by the losses far before shareholders of both companies approved the merger last December 5. The panel has for months been probing events leading up to the deal's completion on January 1. ... Read Full Story

Swiss investment bank UBS AG said Tuesday it has named former Merrill Lynch & Co. executive Robert McCann as CEO of its U.S. wealth management unit, replacing Marten Hoekstra, who had held the position since February. The hiring of McCann, 51, comes after UBS became the target of an Internal Revenue Service effort to get the names of thousands of Americans thought to be hiding assets in secret accounts. Ultimately, UBS paid a $780 million penalty and agreed to disclose the names of 4,450 wealthy Americans. The Internal Revenue Service had originally tried to force Zurich-based UBS to turn over names of some 52,000 ... Read Full Story

Bank of America on Friday announced a steeper-than-expected net loss of 1.0 billion dollars in the third quarter, linked to hefty writedowns of assets from Merrill Lynch and other charges. The total loss for shareholders was even larger, at 2.24 billion dollars, or 26 cents per share, five cents worse than expected by most analysts. The company paid special dividends of 1.2 billion dollars, including 893 million to the US government for its capital injections. The largest US bank by assets said its results were "negatively impacted by continued weakness in the US and global economies and stress on the consumer, which continues to ... Read Full Story

The CEO who succeeds the departing Ken Lewis at Bank of America Corp. will have plenty of repair work to do, including mending relationships with regulators and investors after the animosity that followed the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. this past year. Banking analysts don't have a strong consensus about who will become CEO when the embattled Lewis leaves Dec. 31. The Bank of America executive mentioned most often is Brian Moynihan, who heads the company's largest division, consumer and small business banking. But analysts say former CEOs of banks including Wachovia Corp. could also be candidates. The new CEO faces some daunting ... Read Full Story