I love the smell of scared bankers scrambling.

[Why Syzygy]

Ken Lewis, chief executive of Bank of America, told his senior team that the bank is not being seized by the government, despite increasing calls for action by politicians and pundits in Washington, D.C., and articles in the international press.

Nationalization of troubled banks would allow for a “swift and orderly” restructuring, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Financial Times of London in an interview this week.

Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said nationalizing some banks could be needed "at least for a short time," according to Bloomberg reports.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Lewis has urged the government to say publicly that it is not taking over the bank.

Thomson Reuters news service reported that CitiGroup executives have said the company is not having conversations with the government about nationalization.

Both banks got capital injections from the government’s emergency bailout plan last year.
http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/02/16/daily81.html


AFTER HOURS
Banking shares gain in late session
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:17 p.m. EST Feb. 20, 2009
Comments: 27
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Banking stocks bounced higher Friday evening following a dismal day session during which investors were haunted by fear that the U.S. government would undertake nationalization efforts in the sector.
AFTER HOURS
Banking shares gain in late session
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:17 p.m. EST Feb. 20, 2009
Comments: 27
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Banking stocks bounced higher Friday evening following a dismal day session during which investors were haunted by fear that the U.S. government would undertake nationalization efforts in the sector.
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Once you get a look at the medicine, maybe one isn't as sick as claimed.