BAC - Bank of America Corporation
| Previous close | 23.26 |
| Open | 23.84 |
| Bid | 23.30 x 21500 |
| Ask | 23.31 x 21500 |
| Day's range | 23.22 - 23.99 |
| 52-week range | 17.95 - 35.72 |
| Volume | 54,629,224 |
| Avg. volume | 77,050,869 |
| Market cap | 202.055B |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | 1.60 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 9.47 |
| EPS (TTM) | 2.46 |
| Earnings date | 16 Jul 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 0.72 (3.09%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 04 Jun 2020 |
| 1y target est | 27.92 |
- Business Wire
Bank of America Announces Redemption of Senior Notes
Bank of America Corporation announced today that it will redeem on July 21, 2020 all $1,000,000,000 principal amount outstanding of its Floating Rate Senior Notes, due July 2021 (CUSIP No. 06051GGN3) (the "Floating Rate Notes"), and all $2,500,000,000 principal amount outstanding of its 2.369% Fixed/Floating Rate Senior Notes, due July 2021 (CUSIP No. 06051GGP8) (the "Fixed/Floating Rate Notes" and, together with the Floating Rate Notes, the "Senior Notes").
- Motley Fool
My Top 5 Portfolio Holdings for the Second Half of 2020
These are the stocks that might power one Fool's portfolio higher for the remainder of the year.
- Yahoo Finance
Former CFPB head: SCOTUS decision allows consumer watchdog to 'go forward'
Former CFPB head Richard Cordray says Monday's Supreme Court ruling would mean quick removal of the agency's Trump-appointed director if the Democrats win the White House.
- Bloomberg
Standard Life’s Outgoing CEO Gets A for Effort, B for Achievement
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Keith Skeoch prepares to step down as chief executive officer of Standard Life Aberdeen Plc, the report card on his tenure reads: “A for Effort, B for Achievement.”By the time he leaves in the third quarter, it will have been three years since he and former Aberdeen Asset Management CEO Martin Gilbert engineered the merger of their respective firms in August 2017. The deal was designed to create an asset manager that could compete in what Gilbert dubbed “the $1 trillion club.” The reality has turned out to be somewhat different.Size has proven to offer scant defense against the trends buffeting the fund management industry, including money flowing away from active managers and into low-cost, index-tracking products, increased regulatory scrutiny and relentless downward pressure on what firms can charge for managing other people’s money.It’s impossible to test the counterfactual Skeoch has stressed: that Standard Life and Aberdeen would have fared even worse as standalone firms. But for shareholders, the union has been less than blessed.Douglas Flint, who took over as chairman in January 2019, has been a catalyst for change. Two months after his arrival, the company abandoned the dual CEO structure it had operated since the merger, with Skeoch taking sole control. Gilbert said he wanted to avoid having Flint “tap me on the shoulder and say ‘come on, it’s time to go.’” Flint’s previous role as chairman of HSBC Holdings Plc was probably instrumental in the choice of Skeoch’s successor, Stephen Bird, who ruled himself out as a potential candidate for the top job at HSBC earlier this year. Bird’s career experience during 21 years at Citigroup Inc., most recently as head of its global consumer banking unit, after acting as the bank’s top executive in Asia, gives a strong hint as to where Standard Life Aberdeen expects its future growth to come from.Geographically, Asia is at the top of every fund manager’s list of potential customer growth; Bird’s contact book should help open doors in the region. And Standard Life Aberdeen’s wealth management division, which “has not lived up to potential,” according to a Tuesday research note from Hubert Lam at Bank of America Corp., will be in renewed focus.I wrote in December that Flint might be tempted to tap Skeoch on the shoulder if the firm’s performance didn’t improve. Still, his departure is a surprise, and it’s a shame he couldn’t go out on a higher note by delivering a boost to assets under management and a share price worth more than half its value since the merger. Whether his successor’s lack of asset management experience will prove a blessing or a curse remains to be seen.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Mark Gilbert is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering asset management. He previously was the London bureau chief for Bloomberg News. He is also the author of "Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Business Wire
Bank of America Statement on Federal Reserve’s 2020 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review
Bank of America today commented on the results of the Federal Reserve’s 2020 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR). The company continues to be well capitalized and able to serve clients, communities and businesses, even during times of severe economic and financial market stress.
- Bloomberg
BofA, JPMorgan Exposed to New Covid Spikes, Morgan Stanley Warns
(Bloomberg) -- Spiking Covid-19 cases in Florida, Texas, California, Arizona and Georgia may mean “significant stress” for businesses operating there, especially if governors halt reopening plans, according to Morgan Stanley. That may in turn pressure credit quality, analysts led by Ken Zerbe and Betsy Graseck wrote in a note.Zerbe and Graseck highlighted banks with the greatest dollar exposure in the “epicenter” of the pandemic. They include the biggest lenders: Bank of America Corp., with $618 billion in deposits across those five states, as per 2019 data; Wells Fargo & Co., with $467 billion; JPMorgan Chase & Co., with $420 billion, and Truist Financial Corp., with $140 billion.Non-U.S. based institutions like Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, BNP Paribas SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA are also exposed, he said.The analysts flagged other exposed banks, including California-weighted First Republic Bank, CIT Group, East West Bancorp, Synovus Financial and SVB Financial Group, though the data for the Silicon Valley lender may be “misleading,” given its unique customer base and lack of traditional branch structure, Zerbe and Graseck said.Forty-two banks have at least 50% of total deposits located in those states. That includes Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. and SVB, which have 100% of deposits in those markets, and Prosperity Bancshares Inc., East West, CIT, Synovus, Cadence BanCorp., First Republic Bank, BankUnited Inc. and Zions Bancorp, they said.Separately, Morgan Stanley biotech analysts led by Matthew Harrison wrote that the trend and scope of new virus cases was worsening in the U.S. “Data from this week will be critical in determining the trend for Arizona and California,” they wrote, cautioning that “if Texas and Florida do not break their exponential growth in the next 10 days we would expect the outbreak to become uncontrollable without more aggressive measures.”Earlier, deaths from the virus surpassed 500,000 worldwide, confirmed cases exceeded 10 million, and the World Health Organization said that the worst is yet to come.Bank stocks briefly rebounded on Monday after sinking on Friday. Before paring back gains, the KBW Bank Index rose as much as 2.8%, led by CIT, People’s United Financial, Comerica Inc. and First Horizon. JPMorgan trimmed a rally of as much as 2.1%; while Wells Fargo and BofA nearly erased gains of more than 2.2%.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance
Here's what the most sophisticated investors are doing with their cash during the market rally
Not everyone in the market is buying hand over fist. Interactive Brokers founder and chairman Thomas Peterffy joins Yahoo Finance to discuss markets.
- Business Wire
Bank of America Expands Environmental Operations Commitment With Its First 10-Year Solar Electricity Agreement to Power Facilities, Financial Centers and ATMs in Texas
Bank of America announced today its first 10-year structured renewable energy agreement for solar power in Texas. In partnership with Reliant, an NRG Energy company, the deal will contribute to Bank of America’s commitment to purchase 100% of electricity from renewable sources and builds on the company’s carbon-neutral efforts. The project will provide electricity through the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region to 345 facilities, which include office sites, financial centers and ATMs. Bank of America will receive both electricity and Green-e®-certified renewable energy certificates (RECs).
- Investing.com
Bank of America Stock Falls 4%
Investing.com - Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock fell by 3.96% to trade at $23.74 by 09:45 (13:45 GMT) on Friday on the NYSE exchange.
- Investing.com
Stocks - Banks Drag Wall Street Lower After Fed Buyback Ban; Dow Down 290
By Geoffrey Smith
- Bloomberg
Banks Get Easier Volcker Rule and $40 Billion Break on Swaps
(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street banks will soon be able to boost investments in venture capital funds and pocket billions of dollars they’ve had to set aside to backstop derivatives trades as U.S. regulators continue their push to roll back post-crisis constraints.The Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approved changes to the Volcker Rule Thursday that let banks increase their dealings with certain funds by providing more clarity on what’s allowed. The regulators also scrapped a requirement that lenders hold margin when trading derivatives with their affiliates.Read More: Wall Street’s Win Streak With Trump Regulators Dangles by ThreadThe revisions will complete what watchdogs appointed by President Donald Trump have referred to as Volcker 2.0 -- a softening of one of the most controversial regulations included in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Last year, the Fed, FDIC, OCC and other agencies eased the better-known aspect of Volcker that restricts lenders from engaging in proprietary trading -- the practice of making market bets for themselves instead of on behalf of clients.Thursday’s separate reversal of the interaffiliate margin requirement for swaps trades could free up an estimated $40 billion for Wall Street banks, though regulators added a new threshold that limits the scale of margin that can be forgiven.The KBW Bank Index rose 3.4% Thursday, with Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. among the gainers.Key DetailsVolcker 2.0 allows banks to take stakes in venture-capital funds that were previously banned in an effort to provide “greater flexibility in sponsoring funds that provide loans to companies.” The change is mostly similar to what regulators proposed last year.The Volcker Rule changes were also approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.The FDIC board passed the new rule in a 3-1 vote, with Chairman Jelena McWilliams saying the changes “should improve both compliance and supervision.” Democratic board member Martin Gruenberg opposed the move, saying it leaves Volcker “severely weakened” and “risks repeating the mistakes” of the 2008 financial crisis.Volcker 2.0 didn’t include all of the industry’s demands for relief. In a March comment letter, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had urged regulators to eliminate certain Volcker interpretations that have “restricted our ability to invest in certain incubator companies that provide capital and ‘know-how’ to startup companies and entrepreneurs.” The agencies didn’t act on that request.In scrapping the requirement that banks post margin for trades between affiliates, regulators did add a new threshold to prevent banks from abusing the relief: If a firm operating under the old rule would have had to set aside initial margin exceeding more than 15% of its so-called “Tier 1” capital, then it still has to set aside margin that surpasses that amount. The demand, which is meant to boost the safety and soundness of the new approach, will force banks to continue calculating on a daily basis what their margin requirements would have been under the rule that’s been eliminated.The industry and regulators argued that requiring margin for interaffiliate transactions made it difficult banks to manage their risks. But critics say forcing banks to maintain an extra cushion against losses helped protect subsidiaries that are backed by the federal government, including through deposit insurance.The FDIC’s Gruenberg opposed the change to swaps rules, arguing that it removes a critical protection for banks. Fed Governor Lael Brainard reiterated that concern, saying in a statement that she dissented from the Fed’s approval because she fears the deregulatory move “could again leave banks exposed to the buildup of risky derivatives.”Read MoreWall Street’s Win Streak With Trump Regulators Dangles by ThreadTrump Regulators Hand Wall Street Banks a Big Win on Swaps Rule(Updates with index price in fifth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance
Fed to cap bank dividend payments after completing stress test, COVID analysis
The Fed will bar big banks from increasing their dividend payments, following the central bank’s annual stress tests that included a “sensitivity” analysis incorporating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
- Investing.com
Stocks - Wall Street Opens Lower as Jobless Data Fail to Turn Mood Around
By Geoffrey Smith
- Business Wire
Bank of America Corporate, Commercial and Business Banking Contact Centers Earn J.D. Power Certification for the 11th Consecutive Year
For the 11th consecutive year, the J.D. Power Certified Customer Service Program has recognized Bank of America’s Corporate, Commercial and Business Banking contact centers, which include card servicing, for providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience."
- Investing.com
Bank of America Stock Falls 3%
Investing.com - Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock fell by 3.43% to trade at $23.94 by 11:14 (15:14 GMT) on Wednesday on the NYSE exchange.
- Bloomberg
Just as Shopping Returns, This Mall Owner Finds Trouble
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- One of Britain’s biggest mall operators wants its lenders to cut it yet more slack instead of calling in administrators. Given Intu Properties Plc’s terrible track record, it’s hard to see why creditors should opt for more of the same when they have the chance to take the keys.Intu owns some of the U.K.’s biggest shopping centers, has 4.5 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) of net debt and a byzantine capital structure with borrowings piled onto individual sites as well as the group as a whole. The pandemic shut most of the retail sector, making it even harder for tenants to afford the rent. While non-essential shopping is now permitted in the U.K., any recovery will come too late and too slowly to generate sufficient cash for Intu to cut its debts and stay within its banking covenants.The company wants its main lenders — the big four U.K. clearing banks plus Bank of America Corp., Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS Group AG — to accept a so-called standstill agreement suspending covenant tests for as long as 18 months and amending repayment terms. Matters come to a head on Friday when an existing covenant breach waiver expires. There’s no sign yet of any breakthrough.Intu has lined up auditor KPMG to be the administrator in case no deal materializes. On Tuesday, it cautioned that such a scenario could involve temporary closing some malls if bondholders don’t proffer some cash to fund operations under administration. That sounded like an appeal to tenants to pay their next rent checks, due today, or risk being shuttered just as shoppers are returning, as Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Susan Munden points out.The warning may backfire by making tenants less willing to pay rent if they think the malls will shut anyway. A complex administration is more likely than a clean standstill agreement, Munden reckons.The case for the lenders granting a standstill is pretty weak. Creditors are already the de facto owners of this company. That’s what the share price is saying when it values the group at just 60 million pounds. The question is whether they want the existing team to set strategy and run operations, or want to take direct control.They may decide it’s less bother just to give Intu more time, and avoid the negative publicity that could come with pulling the plug on a company behind some well-known shopping landmarks such as Manchester's Trafford Centre and Lakeside in Essex. Assuming administration happens, it could last for some time. This is a terrible market in which to be selling assets. There is no option of a quick liquidation for creditors to get their money back. Some of the senior debt due in 2023 is trading at roughly half of face value. Intu’s credibility could scarcely be lower. The company was adapting to the shifting trends in retail, for example by adding more leisure space, but just not fast enough. Intu also failed to address its high leverage despite persistent investor concerns. Having a big shareholder with a blocking stake, property magnate John Whittaker, may have been a complicating factor here. The fact remains that Intu should have tried much harder to raise equity when conditions were favorable, instead of waiting till this year when it was too late.Decent managers in this sector are sadly in short supply. If lenders keep Intu on board, it will be for want of anyone better.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Chris Hughes is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals. He previously worked for Reuters Breakingviews, as well as the Financial Times and the Independent newspaper.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
N.Y. Paying JPMorgan More Than Others Shows Loan-Market Pitfalls
(Bloomberg) -- With tax revenue plummeting by $8 billion in April, New York needed cash, quickly.At the end of May, the state needed to pay $4 billion to school districts and $1.8 billion to Medicaid. Borrowing money in a public offering didn’t seem like a good option, with record volatility having shut down much of the market as investors yanked out their cash. So the state at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic borrowed $1 billion directly from JPMorgan Chase & Co., the country’s biggest bank.It came at a price. The 2.05% tax-exempt interest rate JPMorgan charged New York for the seven-month loan was more than what three other states with similar -- or lower -- credit ratings paid to borrow from rival banks to cover temporary cash shortfalls.In April, Bank of America Corp. purchased $600 million of Hawaii’s taxable notes maturing in 12 and 18 months for yields of 1.46% and 1.76%, respectively, the equivalent of 1.15% and 1.39% if the securities were tax-free like New York’s.In March and April, Rhode Island arranged $300 million in credit agreements with Bank of America and Santander Bank at floating-tax exempt rates that haven’t exceeded 1.65%. And last month, Massachusetts secured a $1.75 billion credit line with a syndicate of lenders led by Bank of America at a minimum taxable rate of 2.25%, or 1.78% on a tax-exempt basis, according to a spokesman for Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg.Still, New York, which has a AA+ credit rating, was able to get lower borrowing costs than its neighbor, New Jersey, which at A- has the second-lowest rating among US states. It is paying 4% on $1.5 billion of notes purchased by Bank of America and The Vanguard Group that mature in September.The outcomes illustrate the divergent pricing in the business of extending direct loans to states and cities, which boomed as governments raced to raise cash just as the economic havoc caused by the coronavirus was rattling the public bond markets.Had New York borrowed at Hawaii’s tax-exempt equivalent rates of 1.15% and 1.39%, it would have saved $6.6 million to $9 million, enough to pay the annual salaries of 78 to 107 teachers, based on New York’s average teachers’ salary of $84,230. New York would have saved $2.7 million borrowing at the same rate as Massachusetts.JPMorgan provided the best terms to the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, which issued the $1 billion notes and solicited bids from nine banks in the agency’s underwriting syndicate, said Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the agency.Gordon didn’t provide the terms offered by the other banks. He said it was misleading to compare other states to New York, which received a competitive rate given the size of the deal and market conditions, and that the state is eligible to be reimbursed for the interest under federal stimulus legislation.“New York State was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with more deaths and cases than any other state, and it is terribly misleading to compare New York’s much larger transaction in May to smaller borrowings done in in March and April by states that were not similarly situated,” Gordon said in a email.Jessica Francisco, a JPMorgan spokeswoman, declined to comment.New York is among cash-strapped governments, hospitals and universities that turned directly to banks to cover temporary cash shortfalls and boost liquidity in the months after states shuttered non-essential businesses to contain the pandemic. In mid-March, yields on municipal bonds maturing in one year skyrocketed to 2.8%, only to then tumble back toward zero as the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending program restored investors’ confidence.The number of municipal securities filings that report new financial obligations -- a category that includes bank loans -- has increased dramatically this year to 471 in May, according to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board data, more than twice what it was in February.New York needed the money primarily because of a revenue shortfall driven by a three-month delay in the income-tax filing deadline to July 15. New York state’s tax revenue plummeted 68.4% in April and 19.7% in May from the prior year -- or $8.7 billion -- as the coronavirus lockdowns and the filing extension took a toll on state coffers.To bridge the gap, New York lawmakers authorized $11 billion in new state borrowing for the fiscal year that began April 1, consisting of as much as $8 billion in tax-backed revenue or bond anticipation notes and $3 billion in credit lines or revolving loans.In a sign of how much the municipal market has healed since March and April, earlier this month, New York’s Dormitory Authority issued $3.4 billion notes maturing in nine months in a public offering at an interest rate of 0.55%.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Investing.com
Bank of America Stock Rises 3%
Investing.com - Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock rose by 3.13% to trade at 25.38 by 09:44 (13:44 GMT) on Tuesday on the NYSE exchange.
- Bloomberg
Here’s What Analysts Are Saying as Wirecard Scandal Deepens
(Bloomberg) -- Wirecard shares tumbled as much as 50% in early trading, extending last week’s plunge, after the company said the missing 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) from its balance sheet probably doesn’t exist and withdrew its latest set of financial results.While the number of analysts still covering the stock is dwindling, Bank of America cautioned that the shares will remain volatile and will be influenced by newsflow from stakeholders, noting that Wirecard could be ejected from Germany’s blue-chip DAX Index.The company is unlikely to be a takeover target for a publicly listed buyer given the lack of visibility on its financials, Citi said. The crisis of confidence in the shares means that Wirecard may need to change its name and hire well-respected industry figures, they added.Here’s a summary of what analysts are saying:Bank of America, Adithya Metuku(Underperform rated, PT EU14)Unlikely that clarity on Wirecard’s underlying business will arise for a notable period of time.Shares to be volatile depending on news flow from various stakeholders such as lenders and shareholders; short covering, possible DAX exclusion will be closely watched.Risk of lenders calling in financing will remain an overhang even if they initially grant a reprieve.Citi, Robert Lamb(Neutral rated, no PT)The KPMG/E&Y audits and today’s announcement provide such uncertainty over the company’s financials that there is no way to quantify the true nature of the business with conviction.If the company is able to navigate through the current crisis it will be hard to restore confidence in Wirecard itself.Company may need to change its name or hire well-respected industry figures.Unlikely that a listed buyer will emerge in the near term given the questions over financials.Worldline could benefit modestly from one less competitor when chasing outsourcing deals with banks.Wirecard is least preferred stock in Citi’s coverage.Bryan Garnier, David Vignon(Sell rated, fair value under review)The missing EU1.9b raises doubts about the veracity of Wirecard’s accounts in previous years.Wirecard’s situation is unlikely to benefit Adyen or Wordline/Ingenico.Story Link: Here’s What Analysts Are Saying as Wirecard Scandal DeepensFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Trump Administration Flips on PPP Disclosures After Backlash
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration, following a backlash, said it would release details about companies that received loans of $150,000 or more from a coronavirus relief program for small businesses.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week the firms that got billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded aid wouldn’t be disclosed, sparking fury from Democrats and others. In a joint statement on Friday night, the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration said the company names, addresses, demographic data and other information would be disclosed in five ranges -- starting with $150,000 to $350,000, and going up to between $5 million and $10 million. For loans below $150,000, only totals will be released and will be aggregated by zip code, by industry, by business type, and by various demographic categories, the agencies said. The loans above $150,000 account for almost 75% of the total loan dollars approved, they said. The statement didn’t say when the data would be released.Lawmakers demanded the disclosure of details about Paycheck Protection Program loans after Mnuchin said at a Senate committee hearing on June 10 that the names of companies that received forgivable loans and the amounts were proprietary or confidential. The administration had previously said the details would be disclosed, and the PPP application said such data would “automatically” be released.Officials had expressed concerns about releasing the details because a company’s payroll is used to determine the loan amount, and some independent contractors and small businesses use their home addresses that would then be disclosed.“We have been able to reach a bipartisan agreement on disclosure which will strike the appropriate balance of providing public transparency, while protecting the payroll and personal income information of small businesses, sole proprietors, and independent contractors,” Mnuchin said in a statement on Friday. Critics said the public has a right to know how taxpayer dollars were being spent, and that more detail was needed to know whether PPP was serving businesses that need help. Eleven news organizations, including Bloomberg News, sued to make details of the loan recipients public.The SBA reported that as of Friday night, loans had been approved for almost 4.7 million small businesses totaling $514.5 billion. As of June 12, there were 3.9 million loans of less than $150,000 totaling $136.7 billion and almost 650,000 larger loans worth $375.6 billion.Not Far EnoughReleasing details about companies with loans of more than $150,000 is a step in the right direction but doesn’t go far enough because it means the identities of more than 85% of loan recipients will still be withheld, said Democratic Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.“This is far from the full transparency that American taxpayers deserve,” Clyburn said in a statement.Democrats on the House panel have sent letters to several banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co and Citigroup Inc., asking whether they favored larger, well-connected companies over smaller firms from rural or minority communities when making PPP loans. The Democrats also demanded that the Trump administration release the names of all PPP borrowers.Friday’s action “is an overdue step toward securing the transparency needed to ensure struggling small businesses, particularly minority, women and veteran-owned businesses, are getting the vital assistance they need to survive and retain their workers,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Saturday. Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, chairman of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, said the public deserves to know how effective the PPP has been, but that there are legitimate concerns about disclosing information about small firms.“Today’s announcement strikes a balance between those concerns and the need for transparency,” Rubio said in a statement.Lawmakers have also called on Treasury and the SBA to provide details about its coronavirus relief loans to the Government Accountability Office, which is preparing a report about how relief dollars were spent.(Updates with Clyburn comment from tenth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
