In a report released last week, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli estimated that the securities industry granted its employees $18.4 billion in bonuses – a revelation that President Barack Obama characterized as “shameful.”

Not surprisingly, the audacity of The Street’s greed is far more shameful than people realize, because the total payout was actually much higher than the report found.

What wasn’t widely reported is that the $18.4 billion was only the cash portion of the bonus payout and only accounted for the money paid to securities-industry employees who worked in New York City. In other words, bonuses paid to employees working outside the city weren’t included. The Comptroller’s estimates also didn’t include stock options that have not been exercised, but that could easily increase the value of the bonus-related compensation by as much …

The U.S. financial-services sector is undergoing the broadest restructuring of a single industry in the history of Corporate America, and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) has positioned itself to emerge as one of three clear frontrunners. Indeed, along with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America could well emerge from this financial maelstrom as one of the premier players on the global stage: All three will benefit from increasing market share and increased financial intermediation margins as their weaker rivals have failed and/or been taken over in part or in total by a stronger industry player. During the many financial crises that I have analyzed around the world, the result has always been the same: The prudently managed, under-levered institutions that did not overstretch their capital bases and that were ...

After executing a preemptive sale of investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER), Chief Executive John A. Thain will remain with Bank of America Corp. (BAC) after the merger, the Charlotte-based bank announced yesterday (Thursday).