From: ML COMMS GROUP ALERT
Sent: Thu Jan 22 14:27:52 2009
Subject: Moynihan to head Global Banking and wealth management; Montag to report to CEO

Bank of America Transition
January 22, 2009
Moynihan to head Global Banking and wealth management; Montag to report to CEO
Bank of America today announced that Brian Moynihan has been named president of Global Banking and Global Wealth and Investment Management.
Moynihan replaces John Thain who is leaving the company.
The company also said that Tom Montag will continue to run Global Markets and will now report to Ken Lewis, Bank of America chairman and chief executive officer. Montag will also become a member of the Management Executive Team which sets strategy for the company.
Moynihan has been General Counsel of Bank of America. He will occupy that role while the company searches for his replacement. Previous to the merger with Merrill Lynch, Moynihan ran Global Corporate & Investment Banking for Bank of America. Before that, he was President of Global Wealth & Investment Management at the company.
“Brian Moynihan is a strong manager and one of those people who can effectively envision strategy and execute,” said Lewis. “He has excelled at everything we have asked him to do.” Lewis emphasized that the change in leadership in no way reflects a significant change in direction for the Global Banking or wealth management units.
“Those organizations, which formed the heart of Merrill Lynch, will continue to serve their clients as world class financial service providers,” Lewis said. “We are quite happy with their performance since the merger.”
Lewis added that, “Tom Montag is getting a well deserved promotion. He has provided strong leadership during our transition so far, and we believe that Global Markets will in the future be a significant profit center for our company.”
Moynihan, 49, continues to report to Lewis and be a member of the company’s Management Executive Team. He joined Bank of America in 2004, following Bank of America’s merger with FleetBoston Financial. At Fleet, he led Brokerage & Wealth Management after leading Fleet’s Internet strategy. Before that, he directed the corporation’s strategic development for six years, overseeing all mergers and acquisitions. He joined Fleet Financial Group in April 1993 as deputy general counsel.
Montag, 52, joined Merrill Lynch as executive vice president and head of global sales and trading in 2008, prior to the company’s merger with Bank of America. Before that, he was with Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., where he was co-head of the global securities business and a member of the company’s Management Committee and Equities/FICC Executive Committee. During his 22 years with Goldman Sachs, Montag was co-president of the firm’s Japanese operations and co-head of Asian FICC and Equities, before becoming co-head of the global securities business. Earlier in his career, Montag ran the firm’s global derivatives business.

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Comments (32)

  1. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:00 PM

    ISSUER: BANK OF AMERICA CORP
    SYMBOL: BAC
    FILER: THAIN JOHN A
    DATE TRANSACTION SHARES PRICE VALUE
    1/21/09 Purchase 84,600 $5.71 $483,320
    OWNERSHIP: 549,671 (Direct) 214,875 (Indirect)
    The Form 4 is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by insiders
    to report transactions in their companies’ shares. Open market purchases
    and sales must be reported within two business days of the transaction.

  2. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:05 PM

    seeing as Ken just fires everyone who is smarter than him, is the next email going to announce that Montag has left and the new head of Global Banking and Wealth Management is the Hamburglar?

  3. Posted by Investorcluzo | January 22, 2009 at 4:09 PM

    “Moynihan has been General Counsel of Bank of America”
    …which qualifies him to run a business that jimmy cayne, stan o’neil and dick fuld (for good measure, we should probably add kenny boy “I don’t have a series 7 license” lewis) couldn’t manage because?

  4. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:14 PM

    Ken Klewlis was outraged when the tab for Thain’s office decor came to light. When asked if the furnishings were to be returned, he responded, “It shouldn’t go to waste.”

  5. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:16 PM

    Please describe what was typically deposited in Mr. Thain’s commode.

  6. Posted by miami | January 22, 2009 at 4:17 PM

    #2 I actually lol’d. Nice work.

  7. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:20 PM

    Pretty clear that Moynihan isn’t getting Thain’s job. If Montag has trading, etc. and reports to Lewis, then the Moynihan piece is much smaller than what Thain had. Lewis is doing the traditional management survival tactic of dividing up responsibility with multiple direct reports. Don’t give underlings too much power.

  8. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:26 PM

    @4: Lewis was actually quoted saying, “Leave the toilet, take the rest.”

  9. Posted by Clown Capital | January 22, 2009 at 4:29 PM

    After reading that letter, no way Montag is out.
    However, Ken Lewis aka “Piglet” is probably pacing around his office as we speak repeatedly saying “Oh dear”…

  10. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:32 PM

    Funny. Then again, lawyers are great risk managers. For example, Chuck Prince . . .

  11. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:36 PM

    @3 – I think he ran the GCIB before they fired the predecessor GC in December. His stint in the GC spot was short.
    I wondered why he was GC in the first place.
    Dick in CLT

  12. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 4:54 PM

    They put the wrong Montag in charge. Should have gone with Heidi…
    http://trendliest.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/heidi-montag-pink-bikini.jpg

  13. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 5:37 PM

    Back to work Dick… I’m watching you!

  14. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 6:04 PM

    Am I really the first to suggest that BOA put Guy Montag in charge, and have him burn the books?

  15. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 7:52 PM

    People, please! A COMMODE is not a toilet. It is a piece of furniture. It is a French low chest. This particular commode had legs.

  16. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 8:18 PM

    @12 Finally a leader we can all get behind…

  17. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 8:50 PM

    Everyone at Merrill that got a 2008 bonus should be forced to give it back and that money should be returned to the US Treasury. John Thain represents the worst of Wall Street – covering losses, firing people while spending $1m on his office, and giving away bonuses with money that wasn’t his – just like Bernie Madoff!! Not to say there weren’t alot of innocent, hardworking people at Merrill who got the bonuses but that wasn’t the Firm’s money to give away – it’s the taxpayers!!

  18. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 8:57 PM

    NOW Merrill employees will REALLY understand what B of A is about. After they bought U.S. Trust Bryan Moynahan visited the D.C. office and everyone was so horrified by his comments and disposition that 90% of the office walked out the next day. Bryan believes that employees shouldn’t expect additional money to do what they’re paid to do in the first place. Every day that goes by I am glad I am OUT of there. ICK.

  19. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 9:58 PM

    @17
    a bronze statue of John Thain should be erected to replace the bull at Bowling Green because he smoked a moron, protected his shareholders, and to the extent that ML was bankrupted by a small number of their employees, his employees who will remain at B of A. Respect to taxpayers? that was long gone when the govt chose to backstop AIG. verily, such is life

  20. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 9:59 PM

    @17
    a bronze statue of John Thain should be erected to replace the bull at Bowling Green because he smoked a moron, protected his shareholders, and to the extent that ML was bankrupted by a small number of their employees, preserved the jobs of employees who will remain at B of A. Respect to taxpayers? that was long gone when the govt chose to backstop AIG. verily, such is life

  21. Posted by guest | January 22, 2009 at 10:20 PM

    Although the commode is likely a chest, that doesn’t mean John Thain did not take a dump on that chest.

  22. Posted by guest | January 23, 2009 at 12:45 AM

    According to Webster’s Dictionary: A commode could also be a woman’s ornate cap popular in the late 17th and early 18th century. Rumor has it that he wore it in front of his $5,000 mirror in the private dining room while practiced his curtsey to himself, the royal “we”.

  23. Posted by guest | January 23, 2009 at 7:43 AM

    Real reason KL fired Thain:
    Upon walking into KL’s office for first time he exclaimed “Dude, you have got to meet my decorator!”

  24. Posted by guest | January 23, 2009 at 7:50 AM

    @21
    nice

  25. Posted by guest | January 23, 2009 at 7:50 AM

    in ’06 KL shut down the top 2 floors at BAC HQ’s for about a year so that he and Steele could redecorate the space for the company’s top 10 or so people. How much do you want to bet that the (real) tab for that exceeded $10MM?

  26. Posted by guest | January 23, 2009 at 7:57 AM

    Do you Think Thain got to keep his Spirit points?

  27. Posted by lacidar | January 23, 2009 at 7:59 AM

    Thain and Montag are a package deal. Why would Lewis promote Montag? Montag is an ML employee for just 6months- who was paid a sign on bonus of 39.4 million dollars (google Tom Montag contract). Thain and Montag together with recently hired BEAR and CITI traders added ML bets on the Mortgage market, Fannie and Freddie, and equity derivatives. These bets as anyone who reads news all went underwater for the taxpayer to clean up in December.
    Why would Lewis promote Montag? Hmmm.

  28. Posted by lacidar | January 23, 2009 at 8:01 AM

    Thain and Montag are a package deal. Why would Lewis promote Montag? Montag is an ML employee for just 6months- who was paid a sign on bonus of 39.4 million dollars (google Tom Montag contract). Thain and Montag together with recently hired BEAR and CITI traders added ML bets on the Mortgage market, Fannie and Freddie, and equity derivatives. These bets all went wrong in 2008 as anyone who reads news already knows and who even Joe the Wall Street trader would have avoided trying to pick a bottom to these markets. The taxpayer with no control or government representation had to help clean BOA up in December.
    Is this actually taxation without representation?
    Why would Lewis promote Montag? Hmmm.

  29. Posted by guest | January 23, 2009 at 12:03 PM

    KL keeps Montag so he has someone to throw under the bus next week.

  30. Posted by guest | January 24, 2009 at 9:02 PM

    I see that investment banking and Wall Street greed and arrogance still reigns supreme even after near total economic collapse at the hands of all the so-called finanical geniuses. Ken doesn’t need anyone from Merill to stick around so he can throw them under the bus when they already have enough rope to hang themselves.

  31. Posted by guest | January 25, 2009 at 6:41 AM

    KENNY THE BAILOUT MOOCHER
    (Minnie the Moocher, Cab Calloway)
    WilliamBanzai7
    Sing along link: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=33nTnawq6jk&feature=related
    Hey folks here’s the story bout Kenny the bailout moocher
    He was a low down Charlotte BAC hoochie coocher
    His was the roughest toughest banking sob tale
    But Kenny had an appetite as big as a TARP subsidized whale
    Hidehidehidehi (hidehidehidehi)
    Hodehodehodeho (hodehodehodeho)
    Hedehedehedehe (hedehedehedehe)
    Hidehidehideho (hidehidehideho)
    He messed around with a bloke named Thain
    He wanted the Merrill Bulls or he’d go completely insane
    Thain took him round to Chinatown
    And showed old Kenny how Wall Street gangstas kick the gong around
    Hidehidehide-LEVEL 3 (hidehidehidehi)
    Whoah (whoah)
    Hedehedehede-GREED (hedehedehedehe)
    A hidehidehideho CDO (hidehidehideho)
    Kenny had a dream bout yet another financial supermarket
    It would give him things that he was needin
    It would give him a palace built of gold and steel
    A diamond studded Learjet with platinum wheels
    A hidehidehidehidehidehidehi (hidehidehidehidehidehidehi)
    Hodehodehodehodehodehodeho (hodehodehodehodehodehodeho)
    Thain sold Ken a herd of mad cows and a boatload of subprime manure
    Each meal Ken ate was full of surprising new derivative courses
    Had a billion dollars worth of taxpayer nickels and dimes
    He sat around and counted them all a million times
    Hidehidehide-LEVEL 3 (hidehidehidehi)
    Hodehodehode-CDO (hodehodehodeho)
    Hedehedehede-GREED (hedehedehedehe)
    Hidehidehide-HOSED (hidehidehideho)
    POOOOOOR MAN
    POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR MAN
    POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR MAN

  32. Posted by guest | January 26, 2009 at 4:03 PM

    All the people in this article have kudos up the kazoo BUT they were all involved in running these companies into the ground. Why are they still being promoted?? They all deserve to be at the end of the unemployment line. This include Lewis. He has screwed up the ML aquisition from the start yet we give him more money. $29 a share for junk stock??? Toss them all under the bus!

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