Fed invites public to sound off on BofA/Countrywide deal
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If you’d really like to give banking regulators your two cents on Bank of America Corp.‘s planned purchase of mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp., your chance is coming: The Federal Reserve said today that it would hold public hearings on the deal in Los Angeles on April 28-29.
Public hearings on bank takeovers are relatively rare. The Fed, in effect, said today that it wanted more information on the merits of the deal from the viewpoint of the public good -- to determine whether the takeover ‘can reasonably be expected to produce benefits to the public, such as greater convenience, increased competition and gains in efficiency, that outweigh possible adverse effects, such as undue concentration of resources, decreased or unfair competition, conflicts of interests and unsound banking practices.’
Given Countrywide’s role in helping to inflate the housing boom -- leading to the current foreclosure bust -- the hearing could produce some serious heat. One obvious question facing Bank of America is how far it will be willing to go in modifying troubled loans if it gets control of Countrywide.
Note in the Fed’s release that you have to apply in advance to speak at the hearing, which will be held at the Fed’s L.A. office, at 950 S. Grand Ave. downtown.
A Fed spokeswoman says that the office’s meeting room can hold about 120 people but that it ‘has additional conference space available, so we anticipate that we’ll be able to accommodate all members of the public who wish to attend and/or provide comment.’
Posted March 27, 2008