Money in the Bank

Some of the biggest players in the banking world, looking ahead to a time when a tax or trade system becomes the law in the U.S., are taking the cost of carbon emissions into account when it comes to loaning money, especially to utilities. Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley have all said they will be including the cost of carbon emissions when determining when to loan money to companies.

Another way to start an emergency fund, especially if you don’t get paid regularly or in set amounts, is to start a change jar or emergency envelope. This works best if you have cash on a regular basis, because at the end of each day you can simply dump your leftover cash into the jar or envelope. Once it hits a certain amount, take it to the bank. You can do something similar with a program like BofA’s Keep the Change.

In order to open and ING savings account you must have a checking account at some other bank (Bank of America, Citizens, Sovereign, etc.). First, you deposit your money into your personal checking account then:

With the record closing, Industrial Commerce Bank of China(ICBC) is now the world's second largest bank by market capitalization($232 Billion), surpassing Bank of America($227 Billion) and trailing only Citigroup($250 billion). But, on an earning basis, ICBC's 2006 profit is only 1/3 of that of BoA. I guess if the RMB appreciate 300 percent this year, everything would be just peachy.

Come fall, the Bank of America is moving into that lovely old terra cotta building at 4756 Racine, adjacent to the Riviera Theatre. A renovation is currently underway, as you can see from our essay in scaffolding.

The two handed a Bank of America branch teller a note demanding cash, smiled as they waited and then walked out with stolen money Tuesday, police said.

I opened a checking account at our local credit union last week. (BofA outsources their tech support and charges a $6 monthly maintenance fee, so I’m dumping them.) My box of checks arrived yesterday, wrapped in plastic. Recyclable #2 plastic.

I just got five e-mails to this address: http://bankofamerica.com.technos-hokkaido.co.jp/~william_mah/bofa/bank.cfm. I’ve posted it on Digg to suggest that users shut down the server. Digg wouldn’t let me link directly, claiming it wasn’t an active page so I posted it on here. Thanks!

The implications of this move are very broad. As BofA starts the price war, along with Zecco, commissions on stock trading are going to fall fast. Various news sources have already covered the BofA move, and many predict a rapid fall in trading fees across the board as trading stock becomes a commodity service and other firms seek to emulate BofA. What stands to be seen is how successful BofA will be in luring customers away from the likes of E*Trade, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, etc.

Although trading was fairly quiet on Friday given the importance of the day’s economic releases, equity prices rallied modestly on a dollar rally spurred on by the encouraging employment report and comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Treasury and commodities prices fell mildly on the news, but stocks continued to be supported by rumors and news in corporate finance. Analysts speculated about a possible bid for Barclays by Bank of America, and an IPO from apparel-maker Heelys traded significantly higher than its opening price.

This mock exchange in response to the recent BofA YouTube disaster provides another take on what customers might care about:

3. your average listed for brink and mortar interest rates are lower than what I have seen at BofA, for example.