Bank of America to Buy Merrill Lynch for $44B

Era of investment banks ends

(NEWSER) - When Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley ditched the investment banking model, it didn’t just mark the end of an era, it marked the end of Wall Street as we know it, the Wall Street Journal declares in an editorial today. And with investment banks gone, the US financial system will become sturdier, but a lot less innovative. More»

Paulson brokers twin public-private liquidity measures

(NEWSER) - Ten of the world's largest banks have formed a massive liquidity fund to mitigate the effects of the Lehman Brothers meltdown, reports the Financial Times. All the investment banks will be able to borrow up to a third of the $70 billion fund in order to reduce volatility and stay in business while Lehman is being wound down. They will also be able to borrow from the Fed under newly relaxed terms. More»

Matt Taibbi: It's 'ripping off virtually everyone'

(NEWSER) - Matt Taibbi gives Bank of America the " vampires squid " treatment today, savaging "the ultimate Too Big to Fail bank" as "a hypergluttonous ward of the state whose limitless criminal conspiracies we'll all be paying for until the end of time," in a lengthy Rolling Stone piece. "These guys are some of the very biggest assholes on Earth," systematically ripping off virtually everyone they do business with, Taibbi writes, "and on top of all that, they completely suck at banking." Among the many outrages he details:

• Bank of America, and subsidiaries Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, "pioneered ways to sell their toxic pools of mortgages to suckers."
• They conspired with other banks to rig municipal construction bids, "a mobster's crime, for which the accused used to do serious time," back when it was committed by "Eye-talians in gold chains instead of Ivy Leaguers in ties and Chanel glasses."
• The bank has been charged with scams specifically targeting the disabled, minorities, and the poor. "Seriously, who hasn't this bank conspired to defraud? Puppies? One-eyed Sri Lankans?"
• They often simply never pay required local fees—one Texas county alone estimates the bank owes it more than $100 million. "Think of that next time your county leaves a road unpaved."

FBI, Justice Department investigate timing of bonus payments: source

(NEWSER) - Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch is the focus of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and Justice Department, sources tell the Charlotte Observer, the bank's hometown paper. The SEC and the AGs of New York and North Carolina have already launched civil probes of the timing of huge bonuses paid to Merrill execs shortly before the deal closed; the feds' involvement indicates that criminal charges may also be in play. More»

Fired Merill CEO tries to 'set the record straight' about $3.6B payout

(NEWSER) - In his first lengthy interview since being pushed out as CEO of Merrill Lynch, John Thain tells the Wall Street Journal that Bank of America—which acquired Merrill in September—is lying about its involvement in the $3.6 billion in bonus payouts that made Thain the poster boy for corporate greed. “Getting fired is one thing,” Thain said. “But nobody has the right to say things that they know aren't true.” More»