Page 6 - Bank of America E Teaching Note

Introduction

Difficult History, Bright Future

Introduction

The Bank of America (BofA) made some serious mistakes

with its aggressive acquisitions of Merrill Lynch and

Countrywide Financial and possibly Le Salle during the

credit bubble and the subsequent financial crisis.
Consequently, for the best part of a decade it had been

dealing with financial, regulatory, and legal problems

related to these misstep acquisitions.

Since 2009, the U.S. economic recovery had lasted far

longer and pushed far higher than at first anticipated,

and BofA saw dramatic gains.

However, what at first sight appeared to be a strategic

mis-calculation of epic proportions burdening the

company with massive weaknesses and threats

subsequently has been turned into strengths and

opportunities. Moynihan, CEO, commented that over the

last ten years:

“…….Vast losses from bad debt and litigation merely

obscured billions of dollars in operating profits. “We just

had to get rid of what was dragging us down.”” (24)