On October 6, 2011, President Barack Obama publicly scolded Bank of America for developing a new revenue stream: a USD5 monthly fee for all Bank of America debit cardholders, which the bank had announced a month earlier. It was a strategy for replacing lost 'swipe fee' revenue following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act and accompanying Durbin Amendment, which capped swipe fees at 21 cents per transaction. This was the culmination of three tumultuous years for the world's largest financial services firm, but would not be the end of its public affairs challenges. The president's public critique of Bank of America came in response to - and helped exacerbate - consumer anger about the bank's monthly fee, changes across the banking sector, and general discontent with Wall Street. Bank of America's situation was complicated further by ongoing legal action following acquisitions of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, which hurt the firm's shareholders and led to large-scale employee layoffs. In this case study, students will be challenged to analyze how Bank of America could have better managed the competing interests of different stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, regulators, customers, and the public. . The following questions can be assigned to students to help them prepare for class discussion: What were the interests of Bank of America's various constituents? What sort of influence did each have, and what was the source of that influence? Examine why Bank of America decided to change its plan to implement a debit card fee