“We were considered carpetbaggers. The other bankers wouldn’t let us in their circle and certainly not in their country clubs. So we formed a family with our own associates. It was us against the world.”
–Ken Lewis, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America , from a 2005 Fortune profile by Shawn Tully. Lewis shocked the financial world for a second time this year, announcing Sunday that BofA would acquire Merrill Lynch for $50 billion to become the biggest brokerage and consumer banking franchise. BofA bought troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial earlier this year. So now Lewis is assembling a financial family of his own.
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