As a glut of global capital gave way this year to a financing drought, Bank of America Chairman Kenneth Lewis was on the watch for deals, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Bank of America, with one-tenth of all U.S. bank deposits, had plenty of money. Lewis saw that there might be a chance to buy into smaller financial companies that had been hit by rising mortgage loan defaults and other problems.

“Ken had told people for several months to be on the lookout,” BofA spokesman Robert Stickler said. “We have plenty of liquidity, and it looked like there might be chances to put it to use.”

The opportunity arrived this month when executives at mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp., suddenly struggling for cash to fund loans, “decided they needed a partner and were looking around,” Stickler said.

An accord announced late Wednesday, in which BofA agreed to invest $2 billion for a potential 16% stake in Calabasas-based Countrywide, was a vote of confidence in the home-loan company. It also could lead to closer operational ties between the two financial institutions.

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