Certain Transfers of Financial Assets and Variable Interest Entities - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended								3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended						12 Months Ended						6 Months Ended			6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	6 Months Ended				3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended			3 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2011		Jun. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2011		Jun. 30, 2010	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010		Mar. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Jun. 30, 2011 Residential Mortgage Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2010 Residential Mortgage Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Residential Mortgage Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2010 Residential Mortgage Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Residential Mortgage Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Residential Mortgage Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Pricing Service	Jun. 30, 2011 Residential Mortgage Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Subordinate Interests	Jun. 30, 2011 Commercial and Corporate Loans Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2007 Commercial and Corporate Loans Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Commercial and Corporate Loans Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Commercial and Corporate Loans Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Commercial and Corporate Loans Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Preference Shares	Dec. 31, 2010 Commercial and Corporate Loans Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Preference Shares	Jun. 30, 2011 Upper Limit Student Loans Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Student Loans Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Student Loans Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Sep. 30, 2010 Student Loans Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Lower Limit Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Lower Limit Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Upper Limit Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Upper Limit Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Year	Dec. 31, 2010 Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Trading Assets	Dec. 31, 2010 Collateralized Debt Obligations Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Trading Assets	Jun. 30, 2011 Residential Mortgage Loan Securitization, Government Sponsored Enterprises	Jun. 30, 2010 Residential Mortgage Loan Securitization, Government Sponsored Enterprises	Jun. 30, 2011 Residential Mortgage Loan Securitization, Government Sponsored Enterprises	Jun. 30, 2010 Residential Mortgage Loan Securitization, Government Sponsored Enterprises	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Year	Jun. 30, 2010 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Year	Jun. 30, 2010 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Year	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary A And A2 Or Above Credit Rating	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Receivables	Dec. 31, 2010 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Receivables	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Trade Accounts Receivable	Dec. 31, 2010 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Trade Accounts Receivable	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Loans Receivable	Dec. 31, 2010 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Loans Receivable	Jun. 30, 2011 Lower Limit Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Year	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Upper Limit Year	Dec. 31, 2010 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Commercial Portfolio Segment	Jun. 30, 2011 Three Pillars Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Commercial Portfolio Segment	Jun. 30, 2011 Total Return Swap Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Total Return Swap Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Community Development Investments Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Community Development Investments Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Community Development Investments Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Limited Partner	Dec. 31, 2010 Community Development Investments Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Limited Partner	Jun. 30, 2011 Community Development Investments General Partner	Dec. 31, 2010 Community Development Investments General Partner	Jun. 30, 2011 Community Development Investments Partnership	Dec. 31, 2010 Community Development Investments Partnership	Jun. 30, 2011 Ridgeworth Fund Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Dec. 31, 2010 Ridgeworth Fund Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary Day	Dec. 31, 2010 Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary	Jun. 30, 2011 Commercial Portfolio Segment	Mar. 31, 2011 Commercial Portfolio Segment	Dec. 31, 2010 Commercial Portfolio Segment	Jun. 30, 2010 Commercial Portfolio Segment	Mar. 31, 2010 Commercial Portfolio Segment	Dec. 31, 2009 Commercial Portfolio Segment
Residential mortgage loans sold, pre-tax gains												$ 107,000,000	$ 137,000,000	$ 118,000,000	$ 222,000,000
Fair value of the residual interest												171,000,000		171,000,000		193,000,000	153,000,000	18,000,000																	42,000,000	25,000,000
Fair value of ARS settled																																	7,000,000
Total assets	172,173,000,000			172,173,000,000				172,874,000,000				578,000,000		578,000,000		651,000,000			307,000,000		2,100,000,000	2,100,000,000	2,000,000	2,000,000				490,000,000					1,200,000,000	1,300,000,000																					2,400,000,000	2,500,000,000			1,100,000,000	1,100,000,000			8,000,000	8,000,000	383,000,000	394,000,000	1,400,000,000	1,900,000,000
Total liabilities	152,513,000,000			152,513,000,000				149,744,000,000											279,000,000		1,900,000,000	2,000,000,000						490,000,000																																			1,000,000	1,000,000	109,000,000	123,000,000
Sale of corporate loans to multi-seller commercial paper conduits																				1,900,000,000
The Company completed a structured sale of corporate loans to multi-seller commercial paper conduits, which are VIEs administered by unrelated third parties, from which it retained a residual interest in the pool of loans transferred, percent																				3.00%
Loans held																			329,000,000							459,000,000	479,000,000
Debt issued	13,693,000,000	[1]		13,693,000,000	[1]			13,648,000,000	[1]										289,000,000							454,000,000	474,000,000																																										743,000,000	764,000,000
Recourse to the federal government																										To the extent that losses occur on the SPE's assets, the SPE has recourse to the federal government as the guarantor up to a maximum guarantee amount of 97%.
Government guarantee																									97.00%
The weighted average remaining lives of the Company's retained interests, approximating (years)																																	23
Assumed discount rate in valuing securities, over LIBOR																													8.00%	14.00%	10.00%	16.00%
Declines in fair values for the total retained interests due to 20% adverse changes in the discount rate																													4,000,000		15,000,000		7,000,000	5,000,000
Servicing fees received by the Company	72,000,000		88,000,000	144,000,000		158,000,000																															90,000,000	94,000,000	176,000,000	187,000,000
Allowance for loan losses on consolidated loans	2,744,000,000		3,156,000,000	2,744,000,000		3,156,000,000	2,854,000,000	2,974,000,000		3,176,000,000	3,120,000,000																																													1,700,000,000															1,200,000,000	1,255,000,000	1,303,000,000	1,447,000,000	1,399,000,000	1,353,000,000
The Company's activities with Three Pillars generated total fee revenue for the Company, net of direct salary and administrative costs incurred by the Company																																									16,000,000	15,000,000	32,000,000	30,000,000
Commercial paper issued																																									35,000,000		35,000,000		99,000,000
Assets supporting those commitments have a weighted average life (years)																																									2.9		2.9		2.3
Funding commitments extended by Three Pillars to its customers, almost all of which renew annually																																									4,000,000,000		4,000,000,000		4,100,000,000		2,500,000,000	2,400,000,000
Initial terms																																																					1	3
The majority of the commitments that have been originated by companies operating across a number of industries which collateralize, percent of the outstanding commitments																																																	38.00%	48.00%	20.00%	14.00%
Transactions structured to minimum implied credit and underwriting risk																																														Each transaction added to Three Pillars is typically structured to a minimum implied A/A2 rating according to established credit and underwriting policies
Weighted average lives (days)																																																																					11
Minimum tangible net worth allowed for a period of 15 days																																									5,000		5,000
Credit enhancement requirements as a percent of aggregate commitments of Three Pillars																																									10.00%		10.00%
Other assets	7,462,000,000			7,462,000,000				7,814,000,000																																																					198,000,000	202,000,000
Maximum exposure to loss from variable interest entity																																									4,100,000,000		4,100,000,000		4,200,000,000																430,000,000	458,000,000
Loans issued by the Company to the limited partnerships																																																													204,000,000	222,000,000
Senior financing outstanding to VIEs	6,586,000,000			6,586,000,000				6,175,000,000																																																	1,100,000,000	972,000,000
VIEs had entered into TRS contracts with the Company with outstanding notional amounts																																																									1,100,000,000	969,000,000
Derivative asset positions, fair value																																																									22,000,000	34,000,000
Derivative liability positions																																																									$ 19,000,000	$ 32,000,000

[1] Includes debt of consolidated VIEs ($289 and $290 at fair value at June 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively) 743 764