Bank of America Bosses Find Friend in the Fed: Jonathan Weil

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- One of the reasons so many Americansare ticked off at the Federal Reserve is a lingering sense thatit puts big banks’ interests above those of ordinary taxpayers.The news that the Fed is taking Bank of America Corp.’s side ina dispute over where to park some of the company’s holdings onlyreinforces that impression.

Here’s the gist of the story, broken two days ago byBloomberg News. Bank of America, which got hit with a credit-rating downgrade last month by Moody’s Investors Service, hasmoved an undisclosed amount of derivative financial instrumentsfrom its Merrill Lynch unit to its biggest commercial-bankingsubsidiary. The latter is loaded with insured deposits and has ahigher credit rating than Merrill or the parent company.