Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Receiving Wide Coverage ...B of A Buffed Up: Crédit Agricole analyst Mike Mayo summed up Warren Buffett's $5 billion investment in Bank of America by saying, "Bank of America got the Good Housekeeping seal of approval and Buffett got a sweetheart deal, but the company hasn't been able to get its arms around the magnitude of the losses." The Times also noted that B of A's board met less than 24 hours after Buffett called Brian Moynihan to approve the deal. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is now in a position to become the biggest shareholder in Bank of America, and it's already the top shareholder in Wells Fargo and American Express. The Journal called the investment "a desperately needed jolt of confidence at a time when investors are questioning" the bank's health.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Goodnight, Irene: Evacuation and contingency plans ahead of Hurricane Irene were the topic of a DealBook item Friday. Luckily, the storm did not cause as much damage as expected and the downtown area is "open for business" today. The headquarters of Goldman Sachs headquarters and the World Financial Center office of American Express are located in the low-lying areas on Manhattan that were evacuated ahead of Hurricane Irene. Deutsche Bank was just outside the first evacuation zone, DealBook noted. The AmEx building will be closed today, with employees working from home, according to Bloomberg. Stock, bond and commodities markets are open, all this despite some interruptions in MTA service and outages on LIRR and Metro-North service. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg News

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Krueger on Board: As Scan readers were anticipating: Obama did in fact nominate labor economist Alan Krueger as chairman the Council of Economic Advisers, to replace Austan Goolsbee, touting his experience, according to the Post. More specifically, the Times reported, Krueger's studies of labor markets will be a boon for Obama, who plans to announce a jobs initiative next week. The Journal sees his role as Obama's "advocate for more aggressive government intervention to revive job growth." Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post

Receiving Wide Coverage ...The Fault Lies Not in Our Stars: The fingers seem to be pointing at CEO Robert P. Kelly in his separation from Bank of New York Mellon. Kelly passed the blame for certain problems to others in senior management “people familiar with the matter” told the Journal. Also he reportedly was “difficult” to work with and the Board feared it would lose top employees the same sources told the paper. The Times cited an unnamed source who said Kelly’s departure was not rooted in litigation, nor was it related to one specific issue. Another unnamed source told the paper Kelly was not as engaged in day-to-day issues as the board would have liked.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Get Ready to Rumble: Morning Scan is brought to you today by two cups of coffee and the letter X, as in the big targets on the backs of several banks that are drawing the aim of Uncle Sam's legal eagles … A.M. radio jockeys couldn't stop blaring a Times report that the Federal Housing Finance Agency will sue more than a dozen big banks, including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, over the sale of mortgage securities. The story lead the paper and cited unnamed sources. Instead of demanding the banks buy back the original loans, in this lawsuit the agency seeks to be reimbursed for losses on the securities held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Some observers question whether such a lawsuit, when added to the state attorneys general settlement talks, might not push banks over a cliff.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...A Somber Commemoration: As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the Journal and the Times have published "look-back" stories focusing on financial services companies that were located in the Twin Towers: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Cantor Fitzgerald, respectively. Both firms are thriving despite the recent financial crisis, but the scars from the attack, both figurative and in some cases literal, remain.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Shake-Up at B of A: Bank of America reshuffled its executive ranks, and in the process ousted two well-known executives, Sallie Krawcheck and Joe Price. Krawcheck's departure in particular is garnering a lot of attention because she is one of the most prominent women in financial services. The Journal's "Deal Journal" blog noted that before joining B of A, Krawcheck had been demoted and then cashiered by her previous employer, Citigroup. She's in good company, the blog noted, as Erin Callan (formerly of Lehman Brothers), Zoe Cruz (formerly of Morgan Stanley) and Heidi Miller (formerly of JPMorgan Chase) all rose to senior positions, only to be shown the door in recent years. "Each top woman who leaves or is forced from her post will spark anew the 'whither women' questions and stories about why Wall Street is dominated by dudes. At this point, Wall Street would love a few more top-ranking women, if only to stop those pesky questions." (We might add that there may be heightened sensitivity since this news broke the same day that Yahoo ousted CEO Carol Bartz.) Another Journal story says the management restructuring shows that a spin-off of Merrill Lynch is unlikely, because B of A's business units are "being further aligned, making a spinoff much harder…. The restructuring puts the wealth-management business of Merrill's thundering herd under David Darnell, now a co-chief operating officer in charge of the bank's retail arm and all consumer units. …Meanwhile, the investment bank operations are being consolidated with corporate banking operations and other units tied to companies and institutional investors, which will be headed by Tom Montag, the other newly minted co-chief operating officer." Plus, the story says, Krawcheck had become "the face" of the brokerage business and thus the logical head for a newly independent Merrill, and now she's on her way out. Let's zoom out to look at the bigger picture: Bank of America announced the changes after a trading session in which its stock price once again dipped below $7, leading us to once again wonder how close the company's market cap is coming to the value of one of Angelo Mozilo's bespoke suits. B of A Chief Executive Brian Moynihan "is expected to set out thousands of job losses across the bank as part of a presentation next week on 'New BAC' — his turnround strategy," according to the FT. Wall Street Journal, New York Times

Receiving Wide Coverage ...What Next for B of A? The papers continue to explore the implications of Tuesday's management shake-up at Bank of America. One Journal story profiled Darrell Darnell, one of the two newly minted co-chief operating officers. He may seem an odd pick to lead the company's sprawling consumer operations, having a background in mostly business lending, but the story notes he has a "reputation for maintaining client relationships while also cutting costs-the key objective of Tuesday's restructuring." Another Journal story reports that Darnell has reassured Merrill Lynch's brokers their pay structure won't change. But "Lex" in the Financial Times says that cutting pay across Bank of America is the one lever that the new management team can pull to improve results, as compensation makes up half of noninterest expenses. The Journal's "Heard on the Street" reiterates a point that the paper already made a day earlier: that the reorganization signals Merrill is unlikely to be spun off. More déjà vu as the Journal revisits the implications of Sallie Krawcheck's departure for women on Wall Street — and this time, the paper is joined by the Times. But another Times story pursues a less-predictable angle on Krawcheck's ouster — the implications for FINRA, the securities industry's self-regulatory body, where she was recently elected a governor. "It is unclear exactly what happens next; the Finra bylaws do not account for such management shake-ups. For now, Finra will not eject her from the position. But to keep the seat she will have to join another large brokerage firm in a 'short period of time.' " The Times also has a curtain-raiser for the hotly anticipated speech CEO Brian Moynihan will give on Monday outlining the "New BAC" strategy; like the FT's story a day earlier, this one warns that thousands of jobs may get the ax. Finally, National Public Radio's "Marketplace" presents an interesting interpretation of Moynihan's C-level housecleaning: it's his attempt to shore up support from his fellow veterans of FleetBoston who sit on B of A's board.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Obama's Speech: Among other things, the president called for a national infrastructure bank and said he'd take steps to spur mortgage refinancings during his address to a joint session of Congress. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Remembering 9/11: Of special interest to this audience, the Times' "Dealbook" interviews several financial services executives who were working at the World Trade Center the day of the attacks: a security officer for the NYSE, a Merrill Lynch trader, a Cantor Fitzgerald tech officer and a CFTC lawyer.