Morning roundup: Euro worries persist

Here's a look at this morning's banking and finance news:

• Bank analyst Meredith Whitney predicted "hundreds of billions of dollars" of municipal defaults, investors fled the market - and banks cashed in. Bloomberg explains.


• U.S. stock futures dipped this morning as investors' anxiety over European debt continued, The Wall Street Journal reports.


• Applications for refinancing on home mortgages jumped last week, according to The Mortgage Bankers Association, Reuters reports.


• Fortune lays out the "best and worst" of Wall Street, with a nod to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.


• The New York Times examines Wall Street's "odd couple" of private equity and public pensions, saying public pensions pay billions in fees to private equity.

Bank of America also once advertised on "All-American Muslim"

Lowe's isn't the only Charlotte-area company whose advertising on the "All-American Muslim" television show was questioned.

Bank of America said Tuesday that it purchased a single ad on the TLC reality show Nov. 27 and that its "airing schedule is now complete" -- but did not address whether pressure from a Florida ultra-conservative organization contributed to the decision not to advertise further.

"Our schedule never called for additional ads to run outside of this single ad," a spokesman said in an email to the Observer.

The statement comes a day after Mooresville-based Lowe's Home Improvement stood by its decision to pull its advertising from the show, which depicts Muslims living normal lives in Dearborn, Mich.

Soon after the show premiered Nov. 13, the Florida Family Association, which calls the show "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger" to America, launched a campaign to pressure advertisers on the show to remove their support.

The email campaign targeted dozens of companies that aired ads in November, including Charlotte-based Bank of America and Lowe's.

In an update on its website that appears to have been posted last week, the Florida Family Association states that 65 of the companies it targeted did not advertise in the episodes that aired Dec. 4 and Dec. 5. Only two companies -- Amazon (for the Kindle) and Merck & Co. (for the Dulera asthma inhaler) -- it targeted advertised again, the association says.

Most of the companies have been hesitant to comment on their decisions. Liberal groups and a Democratic lawmaker have taken the home improvement chain to task for pulling its ads.

BofA hires its chief data officer from New York Fed

Bank of America announced Tuesday that it has hired John Bottega to be its chief data officer. He most recently worked in a similar role at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Bottega also has worked as a chief data officer at Citigroup. Before that, he worked at Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

He is based in New York.

Morning roundup: Foreclosure settlement could be imminent

Here's a look at what's news in banking and finance this morning:

• A $19 billion settlement between five large lenders and a number of federal agencies and state attorneys general over mortgage practices like robo-signing could be imminent, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal seemed to have been weakened in recent weeks when California left negotiations. Should the state rejoin, the settlement figure likely would be higher.


• The "pain may not be over for U.S. banks," Reuters says in an analysis piece this morning. When stock prices hit the kind of lows that the financial industry has seen this year, investors tend to snap up what they deem bargains. But that's not happening amid ongoing worries about Europe and compressed revenue.


• Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's second four-year term ends in 2014, and sources tell the Wall Street Journal he is unlikely to seek another. These last two years will be critical in defining his legacy, the Journal says.


• Ivy League branches of Occupy Wall Street are targeting recruiting efforts by the top-level financial firms, Bloomberg reports. Goldman Sachs cancelled visits to Harvard and Brown last week after earlier incidents.

BofA customer satisfaction stagnant, credit unions rise, ACSI says

Customer satisfaction with Bank of America remained stagnant this year while satisfaction with credit unions reached a new high, according to a report released this morning from the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

The index is based on interviews with about 70,000 customers, who are asked about their expectations and brands' perceived quality and value.

On a scale from 0 to 100, Bank of America scored a 68, the same as last year and the lowest of the four big banks individually surveyed. Wells Fargo scored a 73, a gain of four points. Citigroup also jumped four to 73, and JPMorgan Chase increased by three, to 70.

Small banks, lumped into a category of "all other," scored a 79.

Credit unions scored an 87, up from 80 last year. That mark represents the highest rating any industry has received, the ACSI says.

“Because of their size, both small banks and credit unions benefit from an ability to provide more personalized service,” ACSI founder Claes Fornell said in a statement accompanying survey results. “The challenge for these smaller institutions will be how best to maintain high levels of customer service with minimal or no fees amid a major influx of new customers.”

For comparison, the health insurance industry dropped a point to 72, life insurance stayed steady at 80, and property and casualty insurance rose three points to 83.

Jones won't seek re-election to BofA board

D. Paul Jones Jr., who served on Bank of America's board of directors for two years, will not seek re-election, the bank announced Monday.

Jones, who served on the audit committee and the corporate governance committee, notified the bank of his intentions Thursday, the bank said in a securities filing.

Jones was elected to the board in June 2009. Previously, he was president, CEO and chairman of Compass Bancshares, Inc., based in Birmingham, Ala. He also served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and is presently a lawyer at Balch & Bingham, LLP.

In 2010, Jones earned $240,000 in cash and stock as a Bank of America director. New directors will be chosen at the bank's annual meeting May 9.

CommunityONE names new executives

CommunityONE, the banking arm of Asheboro-based FNB United, has announced a new team of executives for its commercial, consumer, mortgage and wealth management divisions.

The announcement comes as FNB United reworks its business under a new chief executive officer and new president and integrates with recently acquired Bank of Granite. All of the newly announced leaders, save for one, were already with the bank.

Per the announcement, Don Harrison and Greg Spainhour will oversee commercial banking division, Pam Frey will lead consumer banking, Mark Hensley will manage mortgage banking and Scott Kittrell will head wealth management.

Only Frey is new to the bank. She previously spent nearly three decades at Wachovia.