The executives of Bank of America were discussing an increase in dividends with the announcement that a ‘new era’ has begun at the bank who has faced much criticism and financial issues in the last several months. But while the party at the Plaza Hotel was festive, the Federal Reserve has actually put the kibosh on plans to increase dividends during the second part of 2011.

Bank of America has been working overtime trying to bring back the confidence of shareholders after a struggle of up and downs. The veto of dividend increase plans by the federal government has caused a setback for the bank. Other banks have also had their plans nixed for increasing investor payouts as regulators continue to resist.

Neither Bank of America nor the Federal Reserve would comment publicly about why the increase proposal was rejected. The Reserve also would not common on how banks in general scored during their most recent examination. Analysts suggest that Bank of America still faces big problems.

Capital One Financial and MetLife were just two of the other financial institutions not participating in announcements on dividend increases for shareholders. While other banks have issued such announcements, MetLife and Capital One would not make any comments about their communication with the Federal Reserve nor would they discuss the outcome from their recent stress tests with the government.

Bank of America does have plans to provide the Federal Reserve with a new proposal concerning dividend distribution and said they will continue to work with the Reserve to get approval for increased dividends during the second part of 2011.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Dividend Meeting Left Out Feds was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The company has been working hard to cut back on costs, which is one of the reasons they have been able to increase profits and consistent growth. Ford plans to also invest $2 billion back into their plants in Michigan due to tax breaks being provided by the state. This plan could potentially bring more than 2,000 jobs to the state and those workers who were previously laid off would get their jobs back first. Newly hired employees will be offered work at reduced wages.

Ford has made quite a turn around in just a year. With most automakers in the US filing for bankruptcy one year ago, Ford is on track to be ahead of the pack. While the worldwide sales of Ford have been on the decline, Ford plans to counter this by adding more products to the current market. They also have plans to continue reducing the debt they have.

Ford (NYSE: F) Flourishing Without Government Help was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The sale is also another show of confidence since Wall Street began to recover from the recession. Citigroup was once one of America’s well-known financial institutions but has seen its share price collapse some 90% since 2006.

Citigroup itself had required three government rescues from both 2008 and 2009. The bank has received $45 billion in bail out money from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) from the Treasury. The bank was given $25 billion in return for 7.7 billion shares and then was loaned another $20 billion, which it repaid in December. They were one of the last major Wall Street firms to pay back the TARP funds. They were forced to raise capital, which diluted the shareholders’ equity to come up with the repayment of the $20 billion dollars.

The sale will be underwritten by Morgan Stanley who was retained by the US Treasury and who will also advise on the sale process. The US Treasury has advised that the sale of stocks will be subject to market conditions and stated it ‘intends to sell its Citigroup common shares into the market through various means in an orderly and measured fashion.’ Experts believe the sale of shares will start after Citigroup reports results during next month.

The sale will not affect the Treasury’s holdings of Citigroup trust preferred securities or warrants for is common stock. Taxpayers hold about 27% of Citigroup’s common stock. The Treasury has said it would use a ‘pre-arrange written trading plan’ but did not state what that plan entailed. Citigroup is reportedly well-capitalized now and the company does not have plans to seek anymore financial assistance from the government. The opening share price of $4.39 on Monday will make the Treasury’s stake worth over just $33 billion, which gives an $8 billion profit to the US taxpayer.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) Bailout Shares to Be Sold was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Wachovia Bank customers may not know how close they came to not having a banking institution. Last week, Wachovia Bank was running but with strong concerns that the bank would not be open for this week. Before any deals were being worked out, Wachovia did not have a source of liquidity and under those circumstances, the banks could not have opened their doors for business. Wachovia Bank has been working on a merger prior to the most recent events. Over the weekend, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, otherwise known as the FDIC, put pressure on the bank to make a deal.

Close To Collapse from Withdrawals 

The urgency became apparent after the executives at Wachovia realized that after the failure of Washington mutual, many of the larger corporate clients made an unusual number of withdrawals on their account. The majority of the withdrawal came from account containing more than $100,000. This severally paralyzed Wachovia’s access to operating capital.

Several Deals on the Table

Wachovia was approached by Citigroup, who offered a deal with assistance from the FDIC. The original agreement involved Citigroup purchasing Wachovia’s operations and the majority of the assets. The FDIC planned to aid the sale. The wheels were set in motion but never fulfilled. Wachovia has since changed tactics and made the agreement to be acquired by Wells Fargo. One of the main reasons this current action was taken was due to the ability of Wells Fargo to seal the deal without the help of the federal government. Wachovia reportedly is pleased with the arrangements because without the involvement of the government, Wachovia Bank can stay primarily intact and taxpayers would not have to help pick up the tab.

The official bid was approved by the Wachovia Board on Thursday evening and must still be cleared by the shareholders of the bank. Wells Fargo does anticipate that government regulators will approve the deal and everything will be completed before 2009.

Forget Citigroup – Wachovia Acquired by Wells Fargo was created by and is property of American Consumer News.