Regulators rap two big banks
The problems in the banking industry these days emerge one after another like the details in a messy scandal story. Moneymen have almost resigned themselves to new disclosures about bad loans and questionable practices at banks that were once considered above reproach. Last week came another surprise. Two of the ten biggest banks in the U.S., Bank of America and First Chicago, said that federal regulators had forced them to shore up their financial structure. Comptroller of the Currency C. Todd Conover ordered both institutions to increase their level of capital, which is the pool of money...