85亿美元都嫌少了

    2011年6月，美国银行（Bank of America）眼看就要取得一场罕见的胜利：它计划以大约85亿美元的资金，与受托人美国纽约银行（Bank of New York）达成和解，旨在挽回由美国银行子公司Countrywide提供资金的不良抵押证券所造成的损失。然而到10月份，因为投资人（以及其他众多意见团体）认为85亿美元不足以解决问题，导致和解最终破裂。难道85亿美元还不够多吗？没错！总的看来，85亿美元对银行业来说是一个惊人的数字，而考虑到85亿美元超过了美国银行过去四年盈利的总和，这一数字着实令人吃惊。美国银行和CEO布莱恩•莫伊尼汉2011年流年不利，而这次和解破裂则意味着又一低谷，但至少布莱恩还是做出了取消5美元借记卡费用的决定。

$8.5 billion ain't what it used to be

    Back in June, it looked like Bank of America had a rare win on its hands: a proposed settlement with trustee Bank of New York to the tune of $8.5 billion, meant to restore the damage done by faulty mortgage-backed securities financed by BofA's Countrywide division. Come October, the settlement fell apart because investors (among many other vocal groups, too) didn't feel the figure was high enough. $8.5 billion, not enough money? Yikes. That's a scary indicator for banking in general, but also for BofA considering it is more than the institution made in the last four years combined. The collapsed deal is another low-point in a rough year for the bank and CEO Brian Moynihan. At least he axed those $5 debit card fees.