BoA

Like everyone else I've been watching the slow disintegration of Bank of America with a mixture of astonishment and disbelief. First the bank imposes new fees on its customers for the use of debit cards and then, when faced with an overt customer revolt, basically does nothing except have its CEO issue a statement to the effect that BoA will do in what is in BoA's best interests, thank you very much, and if the customers don't like it, well, tough darts.

What strikes me most forcefully, though, is that this does not say good things about the general competence of BoA's management. Let us walk through the situation: in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, when nearly 10 per cent of the American people are out of work; when depositors are already rolling pennies to buy food; when the public's general impression of bankers is that they're unprincipled scum …

What does BoA do?

It happily plunges into a PR disaster and never even seems to notice.

Interesting.

Let's just say I'm not buying any BoA stock in the near term.