This ‘unusual’ (Fortune Magazines characterisation) move to help out BofA comes one week after BofA bailed out Countrywide Mortgage.  Its most odd, and at best a serious omission for either the Fed, or BofA not to at least comment on the overall approach to managing the crisis.  Is it a strategy to help the big banks, in return for them to pass on help to the ones in trouble?  This set of events certainly makes me suspect that.  How is it determined which Banks get the advantage?

Clearly there is an architected set of events going on to mitigate the current crisis, and we are only seeing the start of it.

Federal Reserve allows Citigroup to elude key�banking rule – Aug. 24, 2007

NEW YORK (Fortune) — In a clear sign that the credit crunch is still affecting the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Federal Reserve agreed this week to bend key banking regulations to help out Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (Charts, Fortune 500), according to documents posted Friday on the Fed’s web site.
…

has agreed to exempt both banks from rules that effectively limit the amount of lending that their federally-insured banks can do with their brokerage affiliates.
…

This unusual move by the Fed shows that the largest Wall Street firms are continuing to have problems funding operations …

Incidentally, BofA end up owning part of CountryWide as a result.

If Countrywide’s stock were to touch the low to mid 40s within the next
two years, Bank of America could see nearly $3 billion worth of profits
and a ROI of nearly 150%.

If anyone has additional information, please feel free to chip in, or correct my admitted assumptions based on observations.

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