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Bank of America Corp plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in China to expand in the world's fastest-growing major economy, people briefed on the plan said.

Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis downplayed growing concern that banks are indifferent to providing needed credit to get the economy moving again, while maintaining that vitriol over the industry's responsibility for the recession is overdone.

Bonuses paid to executives at nine banks that received U.S. government bailout money in 2008 were greater than net income at some of the banks, the office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.

Bonuses paid to executives at nine banks who received U.S. government bailout money in 2008 were in some cases greater than net income, the office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, which buys distressed home loans and is run by several former Countrywide Financial Corp executives, on Wednesday raised $320 million from an initial public offering, $80 million less than planned.

Spain's biggest bank Santander followed the trend for extra bad loan provisions against the continuing economic slump, lifting its bad debt cushion in the first half and warning the setaside could hit 10 billion euros by end-2009.

Spain's Banco Santander has appointed advisers to spin off its Brazilian business in a 2.6 billion-pound ($4.3 billion) initial public offering to create one of Brazil's largest banks, the Financial Times reported.

Incentive pay under fire, Energy markets pressured, Home prices look up

A House panel on Tuesday voted on a legislation banning corporate pay practices and will impose restrictions on the pay of top executives and give shareholders a vote on executive compensation that encourages financial companies to take inappropriate risks. The bill, which is opposed by Republicans, was approved in a 40-28 party-line vote.

Phibro LLC, the energy trading arm of beleaguered bank Citigroup , was mum Tuesday after the White House criticized a reported $100 million pay plan for its top trader Andrew Hall as out of whack.

Consumer confidence drops, US home prices rising, Bank of America to cut branches

Bank of America Corp said it plans to shrink its 6,109-branch U.S. network modestly over the next three to five years, an about-face for the nation's largest bank by assets after years of expansion.

The largest U.S. bank on Tuesday said it plans to reduce the size of its U.S. branch network over the next three to five years. As of June 30, the Charlotte based bank had 6,109 branches, down 30 from December's number of 6,139.

Bank of America Corp said on Tuesday it plans to modestly reduce the size of its U.S. branch network over the next three to five years, but does not have plans to eliminate 10 percent of its branches.

Bank of America Corp is planning to reduce its 6,100-branch network by about 10 percent, the Wall Street Journal cited the bank's chief executive Kenneth Lewis as telling investors.

The New York Federal Reserve on Monday named Japan's Nomura Securities International as a U.S. primary dealer of Treasury securities, effective immediately.

Georgia banking officials today announced that State Bank and Trust co. has agreed to acquire the assets and deposits of six community banks operated by Security Bank Corp, raising $300 million in capital for the acquisition.

Citigroup Inc said it has appointed three new directors and installed a new chief to oversee its retail banking unit, addressing criticism that it lacks enough leaders with commercial banking experience.

American Express Co and Capital One Financial Corp said rising customer delinquencies reduced second-quarter earnings, and shares of the large U.S. credit card issuers fell after hours.

Wells Fargo & Co and other major U.S. banks said the troubled economy drove big increases in loan losses, reducing second-quarter earnings.

General Electric Co has received approval to step back from a U.S. government-backed debt program, a change that the largest U.S. conglomerate said will allow it to issue some debt more cheaply.

Asset manager BlackRock Inc said second-quarter profit fell from a year earlier as assets under management declined, but results rebounded from the first quarter as markets recovered.

Bank of America's (BAC.N) Merrill Lynch is in talks with several firms including Blackstone (BX.N) and Apollo Investment Management to sell management rights of its $2.65 billion Asian Real Estate Opportunity Fund, a source with knowledge of the deal said.

U.S. stocks jumped on Monday, driving the S&P 500 to an eight-month closing high, after CIT Group Inc was thrown a lifeline to avoid bankruptcy, and investors bet corporate America would log another strong set of earnings this week.

Several Wall Street analysts on Monday gave a mixed 2009 outlook for Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), after the U.S. banks on Friday reported a surge in second-quarter loan losses despite posting profits for the period.

Stellar earnings from U.S. banks have raised expectations that European rivals will follow suit in the next month, although rising bad debts have the potential to douse that optimism.

Nomura Holdings Inc's U.S. brokerage unit said it has hired Ciaran O'Kelly from Bank of America Corp as a managing director and head of equities in the Americas.

Bank of America Inc. posted better than expected second quarter earnings of $3.2 billion on Friday. The bank's CEO, Kenneth Lewis, admitted it will be much tougher to make money in the second half of 2009 after the bank's current profits relied on one-time gains. Lewis anticipates more loan losses as the unemployment rate continues to rise.

Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. bank, posted a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street forecasts but warned of a fresh surge in soured loans to credit card, mortgage and business customers.