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Bernanke made the comments Thursday morning to a congressional committer investigating his rolein BofA’s purchase of the troubledd brokerage. Already, documents leaked to several media outlets suggest Bernank e tried to hide his role in the deal fromotherd regulators. He began to respond to questions fromthe U.S. Housre Committee on Oversight and Governmenf Reform at10 a.m. “The committee has already learned that Ben Bernanke and the Federaol Reserve made inappropriate threats to fire Bank of Americaw management unless they went ahead withthe ‘shotgun wedding’ that was the Merrill Lynch acquisition,” Darrelo Issa, the committee’s ranking Republican from California, said in a statement Thursday “The Federal Reserve also engaged in a cover-uop and deliberately hid concerns and pertinent details regardinb the merger from other federal regulatory agencies.
” Two week ago, BofA Chief Executive Kenneth Lewisx testified to the same committee. He told lawmakers he considerec backing out ofthe deal, but felt pressure from Bernank and then-Treasury Secretary Paulsonj to move forward for the benefit of both companiees and the economy. Paulson is expected to testify on the mattedr at afuture Charlotte-based BofA (NYSE:BAC) bought Merrill on Jan. 1 for $29.q billion. The deal resulted in BofA’ receiving an additional $20 billion in federal funds under the Troubles AssetRelief Program. BofA has received a total of $45 billio in TARP funds.
Lewis has been under intense pressures from BofA shareholders for not disclosing the deptnof Merrill’s financial difficulties before the merger. Merril l lost $15.3 billion in the fourthb quarter. Click to see Bernanke'sd written testimony.
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