Bank of America May Pull Out of Some Areas

Bank tells Fed it'll shrink its footprint if things get rough
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2012 10:18 AM CST
Bank of America May Pull Out of Some Areas
Customers line up at a Bank of America ATM in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)

Should we start calling it Bank of Some of America? If push comes to shove, the banking giant is prepared to pull its operations out of some parts of the country, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The unpalatable retreat is one of several contingency plans the bank drew up last year at the Federal Reserve's insistence, an exercise intended to prepare for the possibility that its mortgage and other financial problems could worsen.

Bank of America isn't eager to lose hard-won customers, and only intends to execute the pullback if absolutely necessary. But some analysts the Journal spoke to said the bank is bound to shrink its footprint at some point, because smaller cities are simply not as profitable as big ones. It has already announced plans to close 750 of its 5,700 branches in the coming years. (More Bank of America stories.)

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