Monday, August 15, 2011

Congressional Policies Send More Jobs To Canada -- Canadian Company Buys Bank of America Credit Card Business -- Not a Bakken Story

Link here.

It appears BofA is selling only its Canadian credit card portfolio and its international credit card portfolio.

This is all a result of Congressional mandates regarding the amount of money banks must keep on hand against outstanding debt. (By the way, this is the same Congress that "demands" that US banks lend more money. Okay.)
The sale of its $8.6 billion Canadian card portfolio to Toronto-Dominion Bank, better known as TD Bank around here, not only gives BofA some cash but it also helps reduce the amount of capital BofA has to put up against that unit.

That’s important because credit card portfolios are deemed risky by regulators and thus the bank would have to put up more capital against it as opposed to less risky portfolios.
With the way the Eurozone is collapsing, this is actually a great move -- the international sale, but Canada's economy is doing better than that of the US. I believe Canada still retains its AAA credit rating.

Oh, about those jobs moving to Canada. I assume, at most, it's but a handful. Operations were probably in Canada to begin with. But it mean slightly less BofA taxes going to the Obama administration. 

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