Bank of America Acquires U.S. Trust in Bid To Lure the Uber-Rich

Excerpt from our Wall Street Breakfast, a one-page summary of this morning's key market-moving and stock-moving stories:

Bank of America Targets Ultrarich In U.S. Trust Deal [Wall Street Journal]

Summary: In a move it hopes will allow it to compete with other private, 'ultra-rich' banks, Bank of America is expected to announce today that it has purchased U.S. Trust from Charles Schwab for $3.3 billion. J.P. Morgan currently holds the spot for top private bank with $230 billion under management followed by Citibank's Private Bank, which has $220 billion under management. U.S. Trust is a distant 3rd with $89 billion under management; still, it gives Bank of America an in to a segment of the banking sector to which it had been previously underexposed. The deal is also expected to help cash-strapped discount broker Charles Schwab, whose operations have come under increasing competition.
Related links: Media coverage: Forbes . Commentary: Bank of America Accelerates Free Trading: Time to Short Ameritrade, E-Trade and Charles Schwab? • Low-Beta Portfolio Strategies: Devising A Low Risk Game Plan For the Current Market • Bank of America: Good, Bad and Ugly on Earnings • Bank of America's Free Stock Trading: How "Free" Is It?.
Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citibank (C), Charles Schwab (SCHW) • Competitors: TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD), E*TRADE Financial Corporation (ET) • ETFs: First Tr Morningstar Div Leade (FDL), streetTRACKS KBW Bank (KBE), Regional Bank HOLDRS (RKH), Vanguard Financials (VFH).

Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast summarizes today's key market- and stock-moving news. Receive it by email every weekday morning (free/no spam).

Seeking Alpha is not affiliated with Wall Street Journal.