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A key House panel will hold its fifth – and probably final – hearing tomorrow on Bank of America Corp.'s purchase of Merrill Lynch.
The two witnesses scheduled to testify are Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; and Robert Khuzami, director of the division of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Since the summer, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has held four hearings on the Merrill purchase. Lawmakers have questioned bank chief executive Ken Lewis, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and a handful of bank directors and executives. Democrats have focused on whether Bank of America misled shareholders about problems at Merrill. Republicans have focused on whether the government overstepped its bounds in urging Bank of America not to back out of the deal.
It's likely that this hearing will be the last, now that Bank of America has repaid its $45 billion in government loans. Keeping the bank accountable for how it spent government money was one of the major reasons for the committee's investigation.
One of tomorrow's witnesses, Khuzami, joined the SEC in February - after the Merrill deal had already been negotiated.
