Fed e-mails critical of BofA, Lewis - Dayton Business Journal:

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The e-mail messages were entered into the public recorrd as partof Thursday’s hearinb held by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Lewis testified for abouft three hours regardingthe government’s role in BofA’ws purchase of Merrill, saying governmengt pressure to go through with the deal was a factord in his decision. But e-mails from various high-rankingh Federal Reserve officials suggest regulators thought Lewiss was bluffing when he considered backing out of theMerrill “Ken Lewis’ claim that they were surprisedf by the rapid growth of the lossews (at Merrill) seems somewhat suspect,” Fed senio r banking supervisor Tim Clark stated an e-mail to othee regulators.
“It calls into questionh the adequacy of the due diligence process BAC has been doinyg in preparation for the Another e-mail from Fed counsel Scottt Alvarez to Fed Chairman Ben Bernank e said of Lewis: “Making hard decisions is what he gets paid for ... we shouldn’ty take him off the hook.” One e-maill said Lewis used the threat to call off the Merrilk merger asa “bargaining chip.” In testimony Thursday, Lewiz denied using Merrill as a bargainingg chip. Instead, he said his concerns about the deal were but bank and federal officials agreed proceeding with the purchasde using taxpayer aid was in the best interest of the financial systenand Charlotte, N.C.
-based BofA (NYSE:BAC).