Bank of America (BoA) has sold off its 25 per cent stake in its Mexican subsidiary, Banco Santander SA. For it, the bank got $2.5 billion,

The all-cash sale done by BoA was done so that it is able to shrug off the non-core assets and also save itself from an international regulation. As per this regulation, the banks which have minority stakes in other institutions, should exit them.

And experts believe that this regulation may be a precursor to many more international sellings in the future.

BoA had bought the stake way back in 2003 for $1.6 billion. It said that the Basel norms require the banks to keep heavy stake of cash. For the banking major, which is already reeling under bankruptcy, this would not be easy and so this decision has been taken.

Overall, the whole banking industry is against this kind of regulation saying that it requires a large cash to be kept which is an expensive decision.

Bank of America along with others has sent a letter to the Basel committee asking them to change their stands and make the changes according to the current conditions.