Financial Roundup: Blood at BofA, Ken Lewis's Curious Date, SEC Not to Blame, Credit Card Debt Up

Blood in the halls at BofA — Some 20 high-ranking Bank of America executives have been let go as the company gears up to take over Merrill Lynch which will lead to up to 35,000 job losses overall.. The cuts involve executives just a tier down from the top and involve long-standing members of BofA’s predecessor firms in North Carolina. [Source: The Wall Street Journal]

The curious date of BofA’s Ken Lewis – Speaking of BofA, when CEO Ken Lewis went to a dinner to accept American Banker’s “Banker of the Year” award this month, he had on his arm a special guest. She was 79-year-old Evelyn Y. Davis, the outspoken, and some say obnoxious, corporate critic and scourge of annual meetings everywhere. [Source: American Banker]

Ex-SEC boss says he’s innocent in Madoff scandal – Arthur Levitt, former SEC chairman, says that neither he nor his agency “dropped the ball” regarding Bernard Madoff in 1999. The former Nasdaq chief is accused of bilking dozens of high-worth individuals, including some New York-area charities, of of billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme.  [Source:  New York Post]

Credit card debt jumps – Card holders late on their bills by 90 days or more jumped 7.7 percent in the third quarter, according to data from credit reporting agency TransUnion. Filings by big credit card firm Capital One Financial show that 30-day plus tardiness has been 4.70 percent. National averages nine months ago were 4.50 percent. [Source: The Associated Press]

JP Morgan Chase offers big promotions — The New York firm is offering customers of failed Washington Mutual $100 bonuses to customers who deposit at least $100 in new checking accounts. The new owner, however, doesn’t plan on converting old WaMu branches until next spring. [Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer]