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American Banker offers tough questions for hedge fund manager Bruce Berkowitz to put to the embattled Bank of America CEO on Wednesday. Add your own queries to our list.
August 9 -
Bank of America has argued in court filings that it has the legal right to jettison troubled mortgage subsidiary Countrywide. In the real world, it wouldn't be so easy.
August 9
What a letdown.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan survived his public grilling on Wednesday, easily fielding most of the questions thrown his way by one of the bank's biggest investors.
Fairholme Capital Management founder Bruce Berkowitz announced the 90-minute conference call last week, inviting skeptics to submit their "toughest" questions for him to ask Moynihan.
In the interim, Bank of America's shares tumbled, in part because of the U.S. downgrade but also due to mounting questions about the company's capital adequacy and its mortgage issues.
But when the big day came, it had all the excitement of a dental check-up. The questions and the answers were relatively predictable - and lacking in the promised "toughness."
"I think my performance with the management team, in terms of transforming the company … has been strong," Moynihan said, when Berkowitz asked him to grade his own performance.
At least the embattled executive followed up with a caveat: "The share performance has not been strong."
More than 6,000 people dialed in to hear Moynihan on Wednesday, and Berkowitz said he'd received hundreds of emails with suggested questions.
Why, then, were the ones he picked so boring?
Not surprisingly, the bulk of the questions revolved around the bank's capital levels and mortgage exposure. But Berkowitz found time to ask Moynihan an emailed question about his bank's overdraft fee opt-in procedures
At least Moynihan acknowledged the mortgage albatross that his predecessor, Ken Lewis, brought to the bank in 2008.
"Obviously, there aren't many days when I get up and think positively about the Countrywide transaction," Moynihan said. "The mortgage area will continue to make noises to get through the current legal cases but the risk has been lowered."
But when he was asked the logical followup question — isn't it time to dump Angelo Mozilo's baby already? — Moynihan demurred.
"I don't think I'd comment on any outcome … the path we've taken is the best for the shareholders and this company."
Glad he cleared that up.
