BoA Buying Barclays?

Bank of America Corp. reportedly has an interest in acquiring the United Kingdom-based Barclays PLC, according to an unconfirmed Merrill Lynch report.A Bank of America spokesman in Charlotte, N.C., said the company does not comment on rumor and speculation. A call to Barclays' press office in New York had not been returned at deadline time. Barclays is known in the U.S. residential real estate finance industry for, among other things, reaching out to buy HomEq Servicing Corp. from Wachovia Corp. earlier this year.