The Obama administration is gearing up for a ‘big bang’ announcement next week that will combine its bank clean-up with measures to reduce homes foreclosures and probably steps to jump-start credit markets

The bail-outs of Citigroup and Bank of America could distort the market if the US lenders succumb to political pressure when making lending decisions, a senior executive at JPMorgan Chase has warned

The Bank of America chief executive’s management style is confrontational but keeps both competitors and colleagues at bay

Ken Lewis made a terrible error but with the flawed information he had, it was a punt worth taking. Why should his head roll?

Beaten-down US bank stocks surged as new Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, played down talk of nationalisation, fuelling hopes for a comprehensive clean-up of toxic assets on terms palatable to investors

Bank of Americais planning to defer bonus payments to some investment banking staff this year – a move certain to inflame tensions between its employees and officials of newly acquired Merrill Lynch

The US financial sector’s new political masters began exerting their influence as Citigroup was forced to scrap the purchase of a $50m executive jet that was seen as a misuse of money at a time when the bank is reliant on public support

John Thain says that he ‘inherited’ the problems of the investment bank and that Bank of America were aware of Merrill’s exposure

John Thain has defended his stewardship of Merrill Lynch during the fourth quarter when the investment bank recorded $15.3bn in losses, saying: “The vast majority of losses were from the position that had been there since I started.”

The former CEO of Merrill Lynch insisted that Bank of America was fully aware of his plans to pay out bonuses before its transaction to take over the investment firm closed