Page 155 - Flip Banks TG

Diagram : Ref 3

The final two acquisitions, Countrywide Financial, a

subprime lender, and Merrill Lynch, an investment bank

with underwriting, brokerage and trading arms. Both

imploded during the financial crisis.

These 2008 acquisitions of Countrywide Financial and Merrill

Lynch, served as the driving force behind Bank of America's

$200 billion plus bill to extract itself from the financial crisis.

(23)

Perhaps, however, the question that should be asked is how

much TARP finance did the BofA use to fund its fines etc.?

Moynihan had laid out his stall based on organic growth but
even if BofA wanted to grow by acquisition, it couldn't.

Federal law prohibits a bank that holds 10% or more of the

nation's deposits, as Bank of America does, from buying

other banks.