It took him long enough.
This week, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan will hold his first “investor day” since 2011 – breaking 14 years of silence that nicely highlights the positively awful job he has done communicating with investors.
Insiders say that 66-year-old Moynihan, who only recently laid out a succession plan, was likely prodded to call the Wednesday powwow by his board, which is fielding shareholder demands for a clear plan to boost the bank’s stock price – and a strategy to compete against its archrival, Jamie Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase.
BofA is the US’s second-largest bank by assets, right behind JPM. But by many other metrics, it’s an also-ran. Its stock perennially lags JPM’s – and all the other big banks, for that matter. It fails to win big banking assignments that go to JPM and Goldman Sachs. Nor does it capitalize on trading volatility because it’s been so risk averse.
Insiders blame Moynihan, a lawyer by training who cut his managerial teeth as general counsel of Fleet Boston, which was among the multitude of acquisitions that led to the creation of the modern BofA. He took over as CEO in 2010, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis that nearly caused BofA to collapse.
Moynihan won praise for his early caution, but according to critics inside and out of the bank, he’s been running the place the same way ever since by scaling back on risk and merely managing the bank’s balance sheet. It’s the reason why the stock has lagged JPMorgan and all of the Big 6 banks.
Critics say part of Moynihan’s problem is that he never left Boston. He still manages BofA’s sprawling operations there with a few confidantes, even though its main headquarters is in New York (with a huge hub in Charlotte where it was once domiciled before its massive expansion). The investor day is being held not in NYC but in Boston.
Another problem is BofA’s board. It’s considered among the most CEO-friendly in finance, which is why Moynihan didn’t set a succession timetable until recently (he wants to stay in job for the next five years).
“The board and those that he surrounds himself with have allowed him to operate this way for some time,” said one BofA insider. “At some point, it becomes overly obvious how much of an outlier you are to your peers.”
A BofA spokesman said it’s “completely untrue” that the board prodded him to hold the annual meeting or announce his succession plans. “The day gives us a chance to tell the comprehensive story of our franchise, how we are growing each of our businesses, and the opportunities for growth in the future,” the spokesman said, adding that analysts are starting to buy into Moynihan’s future growth plans. As many as 25 analysts now have buy recommendations on BofA stock.
Whether it’s because of pressure from the board, his employees, investors or all three, Moynihan has been more visible lately. In addition to creating a succession plan and elevating a trio of executives to pole positions to succeed him, Moynihan has been doing media as he attempts to explain BofA’s new strategy.
His new soundbite is “responsible growth”. Company insiders say Moynihan is still a firm believer in avoiding balance sheet risk, so don’t expect big trading profits when the markets get crazy like you see from Goldman Sachs. BofA also doesn’t post surprise trading losses. One metric Moynihan’s flacks keep touting: The bank recorded more than a dozen years of consistent growth in its sales and trading division.
Which means when you cut through the spin, his strategy is more of the same. It’s important to note Moynihan’s caution has cost his shareholders money. In 2021, his team misread interest rates and dived headfirst into super safe treasuries that got crushed when inflation spiked and the Fed raised interest rates.
A key reason that BofA — despite its massive balance sheet — remains an also-ran is that he hasn’t allowed traders to use that balance sheet even to support client deals, thus it doesn’t get the best client assignments, insiders say.
On Wednesday, Moynihan won’t be the only one doing the talking; more than a dozen BofA executives are expected to speak including the three men poised to take his job: Dean Athanasia, head of regional banking, chief financial officer Alastair Borthwick and Jim DeMare, head of global markets.
DeMare is seen to have the inside track on the inside track because of the bank’s new found love of taking capital markets risk, albeit in a responsible manner – whatever that means.
