Banks, Merrill Lynch | featured news

Swiss private bank Julius Baer says it plans to cut about 1,000 jobs from Merrill Lynch's wealth management operations outside the United States following a deal to buy the unit from Bank Of America.

Bank of America announced on Friday that it would pay $2.43 billion to settle a class action lawsuit related to its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

The stressed relationship between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch just got uglier with the announcement today that Sallie Krawcheck, is leaving her post as head of Merrill Lynch’s global wealth management division.

A group of investors in bankrupt Tribune Co sued JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Citicorp and Bank of America, claiming the banks arranged $3.7 billion in loans in 2007 they knew the company could never repay.

The embattled chief executive, under pressure over the disclosure of losses and bonuses at Merrill Lynch, told the board on Wednesday that he planned to retire, people briefed on the situation said.

When the credit crisis struck last year, federal regulators pumped tens of billions of dollars into the nation's leading financial institutions because the banks were so big that officials feared their failure would ruin the entire financial system. Today, the biggest of those banks are even bigger.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges Monday against Bank of America for misleading investors about billions of dollars in bonuses paid to top executives at Merrill Lynch following its purchase of the brokerage giant.

The head of the US Federal Reserve says it acted with "integrity" in Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch.

Kenneth D. Lewis, the Bank of America chief, told a House panel that he was pressured by the government late last year to purchase Merrill Lynch.

House lawmakers on Tuesday said they have subpoenaed the Federal Reserve to hand over e-mails, notes and other documents related to its role in Bank of America Corp.'s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.