This deal baffled me when it was announced and continues to baffle today. Even more so, as you point out, is the fact that Ken Lewis is generally regarded as a fairly shrewd guy. I just don’t get it. If this deal falls through there’s a 90%+ likelihood that CFC will fail. It has a horrible asset quality problem, limited liquidity, and a tsunami of lawsuits waiting in the wings. I think – “think” being the operative word – that ultimately this deal won’t get done. If it does get done, however, then I’ll have to assume that the regulators gave BAC some enormous benefit (such as allowing it to increase its deposit base beyond the current 10% US market share threshold) that dwarfs the losses they’ll take on CFC. I just can’t think of what that benefit would be.
