Basis of Presentation and Significant Events (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended				9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011 Series F Department of the Treasury	Dec. 31, 2010 Series F Department of the Treasury	Sep. 30, 2011 Department of the Treasury right	Sep. 30, 2011 Department of the Treasury Registration Rights Agreement occurrence	Jan. 31, 2011 AIA Group	Sep. 30, 2011 Series C	Sep. 30, 2011 Series C Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Series C Preferred Stock	Sep. 30, 2011 Series E	Sep. 30, 2011 Series E Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Series E Preferred Stock	Sep. 30, 2011 Series F	Sep. 30, 2011 Series F Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Series F Preferred Stock	May 31, 2011 Series G	Sep. 30, 2011 Series G	Jan. 31, 2011 Warrants issued in connection with the recapitalization Y	Jan. 19, 2011 Warrants issued in connection with the recapitalization	May 31, 2011 Common Stock	Sep. 30, 2011 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Common Stock
Recapitalization
Repayment of all amounts owed under the FRBNY Credit Facility	$ 21,000,000,000
Ownership percentage sold (as a percent)								67.00%
Proceeds from drawdown on the Department of the Treasury Commitment		20,292,000,000	2,199,000,000	20,292,000,000
Preferred stock, par value (in dollars per share)				$ 5.00	$ 5.00					$ 5.00	$ 5.00		$ 5.00	$ 5.00		$ 5.00	$ 5.00		$ 5.00
Amount designated to be available from drawdown on the Department of Treasury's commitment																			2,000,000,000
Amount of Series G preferred stock drawdown right						1
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)																							$ 2.50	$ 2.50
Minimum net proceeds from completion of the registered public offering of common stock																		2,000,000,000
Liquidation preference (in dollars per share)																			$ 0
Exchange of preferred stock for common stock in connection with recapitalization (in shares)		562,868,096							562,868,096			924,546,133			167,623,733
Maximum times that a registered market offering can be demanded in any 12 month period (in occurrences)							2
Approval of terms, ownership threshold (as a percent)							33.00%
Registration limit, liquidity considerations							2,000,000,000
Liquidity threshold for determining the amount that can be raised in a registered primary offering by the entity							8,000,000,000
Issue of Warrants
Term of warrants (in years)																				10
Number of securities issued under warrants (in shares)																					74,997,778
Exercise price of warrants (in dollars per share)																					$ 45.00
Number of securities withheld for tax purposes (in shares)																					67,650
May 2011 Common Stock Offering and Sale
Issuances (in shares)																			20,000			100,000,000	100,113,761
Aggregate net proceeds from issuance of common stock		5,055,000,000																				2,900,000,000
Common stock sold by the Department of the Treasury (in shares)																						200,000,000
Net proceeds from offering to fund Consolidated 2004 Securities Litigation settlement																						$ 550,000,000
Interest ownership by the Department of the Treasury before stock offering and sale (as a percent)																						92.00%
Interest ownership by the Department of the Treasury (as a percent)																						77.00%