According to a contract Ken Lewis has with B of A, he is entitled to a $53+ million pension plan after he steps down as CEO of B of A later this year. That equates to an annual pension benefit of $3.5M for the rest of his life.

Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis informed the bank’s board today that he has decided to retire. The board accepted his decision but did not name a successor. Lewis,62, has been under tremendous pressure since Bank of America merged with Merrill Lynch in early 2009.

A $33 million settlement between the Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission over bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives was rejected Monday morning by a Federal District judge. The bonuses were paid right before Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch last year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. with securities laws violations for having inadequate policies and procedures for controlling access to institutional customer order flow. Merrill Lynch agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and pay a $7 million penalty, among other remedies.

Today Bank of America confirmed that John Thain "is leaving the company," and that Brian Moynihan has been named President of Global Banking and Global Wealth and Investment Management. BofA does not go into details why John Thain is leaving, but the recent FT article may help to understand why.

Sunday in September. You'd expect it to be a day of baseball, or football, but definitely, being a Sunday, not a day Wall Street would care about. This Sunday, September 14th, you'd be wrong.

It’s nice to see the mainstream media cover more of the voices outside of the bottom callers who keep tripping over each other to be the first one to call bottom.

Merrill Lynch & Co and Citigroup have issued statements saying that they are taking serious steps towards reaching an agreement with US regulators.

Exposure reduction is $11.1 billion and Merrill Lynch says initiatives are designed to further enhance capital position.

A Merrill Lynch analyst put out some groundbreaking research on GM this morning claiming that bankruptcy was an option for the auto company. He reversed his prior buy recommendation (issued in February 2007 when the stock was at $40) and cut the stock to an "underperform" now that it is trading below $11.

Hana Financial Group, one of the largest financial firms in South Korea, intends to buy Merrill Lynch shares worth $50 million.

Merrill Lynch & Co. will pay the city of Springfield $13.9 million to settle a dispute over investments that soured and became the focus of investigations by state regulators, the two sides said Thursday