Thursday, July 10, 2008

Bank of America's Lewis Expects Economic Recovery in Mid-2009

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis expects the economy to begin recovering from the housing crisis in the middle of next year.

``Until then, depending on what sector of the economy you're in, it will feel slow and may feel like a recession,'' Lewis, 61, said today in prepared remarks in Los Angeles.

Bank of America last week became the biggest U.S. mortgage lender after completing the $2.5 billion acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. It plans to rework at least $40 billion in troubled loans over two years to keep more than 250,000 families in their homes, Lewis said.

Foreclosure filings rose 48 percent from a year earlier in May as banks repossessed twice as many homes, RealtyTrac Inc. said in a June 13 report.

Deteriorating housing prices, rising unemployment and record oil prices pushed U.S. consumer confidence to a 28-year low last month. Lewis said that's the ``challenge we're facing as we work to revive our housing markets and our economy.''

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