Bank of America pledges $5 billion in loans at White House meeting
With the White House pressuring bankers to make more loans, Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. today pledged to increase lending to small- and medium-sized businesses by at least $5 billion next year.
Chief executive Ken Lewis made the promise to President Obama at a White House meeting of top U.S. bankers.
The nation's biggest bank said it has extended more than $12 billion in credit to small businesses through the first three quarters of this year. It said it also has helped 49,000 small business customers with loan modifications and originated more than $215 billion in commercial loans to medium-sized companies in the same period.
“Bank of America is determined to do our part to help the economy grow next year and reduce unemployment by making every good loan we can make,” Lewis said in a statement. He said the small business lending initiative was only one of the bank's efforts to help the economy, but an “important one.”
Monday's session was Obama's second summit with top bankers, who are under fire for not making enough loans to customers struggling in the recession and for doling out big bonuses.
Lewis attended the meeting even as Bank of America's board searches for his replacement. Under fire for his Merrill Lynch acquisition, the bank's CEO since 2001 announced in September that he was retiring at year's end.
A leading candidate to succeed him is reportedly former Wachovia Corp. chief financial officer Bob Kelly, now the CEO of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Kelly, who attended the White House meeting, declined to comment on the Bank of America job in a CNBC interview after the summit.
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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, BOFA, Google Maps
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