Bank of America grows its investment banking

No one sees Bank of America as an investment banking power. The Rorschach quick association is with retail banker, and we've been following its so-far  thwarted attempts to buy LaSalle from ABN Amro. But Financial News Online notes that the big North Carolina bank has designs on investment banking. In fact, the bank has set an audacious goal: It wants a top-three ranking in the U.S. That will be exceedingly hard to achieve. But there has been progress. Gene Taylor, in Charlotte, tapped ex-Morgan Stanley exec Brian Brille to run investment banking slowly--the two ended the investment vs. commercial bankers rift and lifted ambitions. As of now, it is No. 10 in the investment banking league tables, by one measure. So it has a ways to go, but it is a presence.

For more:
- here's the article Financial News Online