Embattled Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis took his confidence game to the air earlier today, sitting down with Bloomberg reporter Margaret Popper. Among Lewis' claims were that the Countrywide division is doing some nice business with the recent re-finance boomlet and that Merrill's asset management and brokerage businesses are also performing well.
The money snip from the companion article published later by Bloomberg:
Lewis said the bank was “strongly advised, with an emphasis on strongly,” not to walk away from the Merrill deal. He said the government told Bank of America, “‘We will work with you. We know this is a Merrill issue.’ I was told, ‘We view you as a strong company that has done the right thing in a difficult situation,’ and that, ‘the money will be there for you.’”
Lewis said he looks forward to talks with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating Merrill’s $3.6 billion bonus payments to employees in December, just before the merger was completed. “When we get the facts out and we show what we’ve done and how we did it, we’ll be fine,” Lewis said.
'The money will be there for you' he was told. Bernanke and Paulson apparently weren't blowing smoke either, as less than a month after these secret conversations, Lewis was awarded an additional $20 billion capital injection from taxpayers plus a tasty $118 billion asset guarantee.
Don't be confused by the pictures, the undelying links are different. Go up top for the short clip and down below for the full deal.
