Despite a year plagued by lawsuits and fretting over the cost of regulation, financial firms have performed solidly in the stock market during 2012. In fact, the sector as a whole has rebounded from being the worst industry to invest in during the past few years, to the best, posting remarkable gains. While the stocks remain far from their all time highs, we see solid growth in the past twelve months. After falling 18 percent in 2011, financial stocks are on track for their largest gain in nine years,... 

The fiscal cliff appears to be an impending calamity, and financial markets seem to be responding now, even if they largely ignored it during the previous twelve months. If a deal is not reached, within the next few days the United States will see large tax increases applied to all income groups, coupled with large decreases in government spending. Investors and market observers worry what impact this will have on consumption and investment in the coming year, and appear to be taking some profits... 

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), the Charlotte based banking giant, continues its reorganization plan to cut costs heading into 2013. Part of that plan is the closure of branches, in an effort to consolidate and raise profits in their core markets. The most recent news comes out of Massachusetts, where Bank of America is the largest bank in the state, and has plans to close multiple branches due to sagging profits and rising costs. The plans will shutter four more branches in the state in March, including... 

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), the Charlotte based banking giant, plans to close its Fresno call center in August 2013. Jennifer Darwin, a corporate spokesperson with Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, confirmed the closure, but declined to say how many workers would be affected. The layoffs at the call center will be upwards of 700 jobs, according to social media posts on the topic. Darwin said the 700 figure is a “bit high”, and declined to state if employees would receive any sort... 

Hawaii may be considered paradise for vacationers, but apparently, not so much for the nation’s largest banks. Hawaii’s distance from the U.S. Mainland, the state’s small population and high real estate costs are among the factors analysts say are keeping the nation’s 10 largest banks from establishing a retail presence in the islands. Astonishingly, Hawaiit is the only state in the Union where big banks such as Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:... 

Legal issues continue to plague the banking sector, with the most recent now focused on New York based JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). CIFG Assurance North America Inc. has dragged the company to court over losses suffered by the former on collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) created by Bear Stearns. CIFG alleges that Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan acquired at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, had stashed the CDOs with risky mortgage securities and convinced the former that independent... 

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), the San Francisco based banking giant, also happens to be the biggest U.S. home lender. Through their many lines of business, one source of revenue in particular has been jostled by recent regulations – overdraft fess. The bank has sought to challenge the process, as it has become a growing issue with customers. Overdraft fees have been specifically targeted by regulators in recent years, as there has been a lack of norms or averages in the industry, leaving consumers at... 

By all reasonable measures, Brian Moynihan inherited a mess as Chief Executive of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). Since taking over in January 2010 from outgoing CEO Ken Lewis, Moynihan had the unenviable task of ridding his firm of toxic assets acquired under the previous regime, and improve the balance sheet to comply with impending stringent capital requirements. In his own words, the Charlotte based banking behemoth needed a “fortress balance sheet.” Last week, in a staff meeting broadcast... 

In the past four years, there has been a significant spike in the amount of shareholder lawsuits. Investors have grown increasingly leery of firms as they worry they have been misled as the firms they own are mismanaged. In the past week alone, the Charlotte based Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has agreed to settle with investors over the Merrill Lynch acquisition, while UBS (NYSE: UBS) has faced similar scrutiny due to representations they have made. While Bank of America has settled, UBS has not,... 

Since the financial crisis of 2008, shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) have struggled to regain footing. The firm has been embroiled in literally thousands of lawsuits, while also facing increased scrutiny from regulators. Much of this attention can be linked to the acquisitions the firm made in the time leading up to the financial crash, first with the purchase of Countrywide, the nation’s largest sub prime mortgage lender, and then with Merrill Lynch, a firm which was falling, fast. The Countrywide... 

Bank of America is allowing a small number of customers facing foreclosure to remain in their homes and rent the property instead under a new housing rental program being tested by the company.  The pilot program, called Mortgage to Lease, will be limited to specific areas of the country at first and if it is successful, the bank could expand it to more states.  Bank of America will not be asking for applicants or accepting volunteers for the pilot program. Under the program, about 1,000 homeowners...