Bank of America Corp (BAC): Five Things That Could Hobble It

1. A major, unforeseen legal hit
If you begin counting from March 2008, when Bear Stearns was rescued from sudden collapse, we’re more than five years out from the start of the financial crisis, yet related regulatory and other legal challenges remain for Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) as well as its peers.

Fellow superbank Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) just had a judge refuse to sign off on a $590 million settlement relating to billions in toxic mortgage assets investors claim the bank hid. And just this past January, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) settled for more than $11 billion over allegations it sold to government-run housing giant Fannie Mae bad mortgages during the housing boom.

The moral of the story? Just when you think the financial crisis is over, it’s not.