Bank Of America

A few years ago, Countrywide Financial Corp. was not only the nation's biggest home lender but also highly regarded -- an "apple pie" company, as a former marketer for the Calabasas lender recalls. Linked more recently with high-risk loans, co-founder Angelo R. Mozilo's huge paydays and FBI investigations, the Countrywide name became "too toxic to resuscitate," as another expert puts it -- and a liability for Bank of America Corp., which snatched it up last year as it neared collapse.

A decade ago, big banks and thrifts began closing branches in the belief that clicks would replace bricks as customers moved their business online. But consumers weren't ready, and the experiment was soon abandoned. Now the old model may finally be changing. Bank of America Corp.

The California Supreme Court unanimously overturned a billion-dollar class-action award against Bank of America Corp. on Monday, ruling that banks can collect overdraft fees from accounts in which government benefits intended for subsistence are directly deposited. The ruling threw out a 2004 verdict by a San Francisco jury that found the bank violated state law by taking fees for insufficient funds from accounts set up to receive Social Security benefits.

Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay $33 million to settle allegations that it misled shareholders by indicating that Merrill Lynch & Co. would not pay year-end bonuses -- when in fact the bank had already approved up to $5.8 billion in payments. Federal regulators, who brought the suit against BofA, said the episode occurred as shareholders were considering the bank's proposed acquisition of Merrill Lynch last year.

Bank of America Corp. Chief Financial Officer Joe Price assured employees Friday that the company had enough cash to finance operations for more than two years. "Market turmoil has created lingering industrywide concerns that magnify the importance of maintaining an extra level of capital to support business activities," Price said in a question-and-answer dialogue posted on the company's internal website.

Bank of America Corp. set the tone for the banking industry's response to California's decision to issue IOUs. That message, essentially, is this: "We'll help you for a week. If you can't get your act together and nail down a budget by then, you're on your own." Bank of America announced late Wednesday that it would redeem in full the state's IOUs (formally, "registered warrants") from current BofA customers who want to cash them in. But the bank set a cutoff date of July 10.

Bank of America Corp. owes Kenneth D. Lewis, who is quitting as its chief executive at year's end, $68.8 million on his way out the door. Lewis accumulated that amount in his 40 years of work at Bank of America and predecessor companies. Topping the list of assets is a lump-sum pension benefit that was valued at $53.2 million in the bank's last public report on his holdings. That report, in a proxy filing this year, also said Lewis, 62, had $10.6 million in deferred compensation coming his way. And he will keep 305,000 shares of restricted stock that will vest over the next few years, which, at today's stock price of $16.34, is worth about $5 million.

Former Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive John Thain on Monday defended the acquisition of the brokerage by Bank of America Corp., saying the bank knew of the company's losses and payment of bonuses before the purchase closed. Thain also said he planned to reimburse Bank of America for a $1.2-million renovation of his office a year ago, saying in an interview with CNBC that "it is clear to me in today's world that it was a mistake." "I apologize for spending that money . . . .

Gabby Ornelas, a former teller at the giant Bank of America Corp., remembers the training sessions. And she remembers her marching orders: "Sell, sell, sell." Ornelas was instructed to use her Spanish-language skills and Latino heritage to sign up customers for as many kinds of banking services as possible, she said -- services that led to lucrative fees for the bank and financial entanglement for many customers.

Countrywide Financial Corp. founder Angelo Mozilo, one of the nation's highest-paid chief executives, stands to reap $115 million in severance-related pay if his troubled company is acquired by Bank of America Corp., regulatory filings show. Free rides on the company jet are also included in Mozilo's departure deal, and the company will pick up his country club bills until 2011. Other executives, including Home Depot Inc.'