Big surprise. Brian Moynihan has long been the inside choice to replace Ken Lewis. Lewis just got a little too radioactive post-bailout and had to rush his retirement. But once BAC paid back TARP and did some backchannel lobbying of Congress and regulators, made a head fake toward an outsider, Moynihan was back on track.
You have to love what Chris Whalen told Bloomberg about Moynihan’s elevation:
“The fact that regulators would accept this is a complete indictment of the Fed and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,” said Chris Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, a Torrance, California-based research firm. “Ken Lewis’s cronies were allowed to pick his son.”
It does not hurt that Moynihan has deep ties to Boston, pleasing Barney Frank, ranking godfather of the banking industry. For that reason, be very skeptical of reports that Moynihan will be “working from” Charlotte. Either the guy moves here or not. I’m guessing not. It was never really a short-term option to move BAC’s entire HQ to Boston. Too costly.
But let’s watch and see where the real power goes in this operation in the years ahead.
