Protesters outside the Bank of America Bryant Park building, where the firm’s annual meeting is taking place today and where they are taking issue with the bank’s mortgage issues.
Ken Lewis
Heralding a “new era” at the nation’s largest bank, Mr. Moynihan kicked off the bank’s first investor day conference since 2007 promising the bank has no intention of making any more acquisitions and will instead look to cut costs and focus on its customers. “I can’t stress enough to you how much of a peace dividend we’ll get without mergers,” Mr. Moynihan said, adding the bank doesn’t need anything. “That peace dividend is effectively a permanent dividend.” [WSJ]
Does it feel like it’s been so long you can hardly remember what his sweet drawl and slight stammer sound like? You get a little reminder here, with his Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission testimony. Continue reading »
Pop quiz, kids. Do you have a short list of people you can call in the event you need someone to provide bail, to wriggle you out of a dicey situation, or to speak to your character with authority/otherwise vouch for you? I know I do and all of them are individuals who are wealthy, influential and/or good with a wrench. They can also hold their liquor. Which is to say, they are not Ken Lewis. I don’t know, he’s just not a person I would’ve ever thought to go to for help if I were in any sort of bind. Would probably go to Stan O’Neal or Dick Fuld first (don’t discount his ability to rappel down the side of a building). Continue reading »
Peter Kraus’s Fabulousness Cost Him A Gig At The Newly Formed Bank of America Merrill Lynch
By Bess Levin
While the financial crisis has wreaked havoc on the lives, careers and bank accounts of many, it’s actually been pretty sweet for former Goldman executive Peter Kraus. After leaving Goldman in March 2008 he collected $25 million for a few months of work at Merrill Lynch and then took his current job as chairman and CEO of AllianceBernstein. He also bought a five-bedroom apartment at 720 Park Avenue for $37 million and by all accounts seems to be having a pretty good time. Still though, there’s one thing that likely plagues him. Not the public flogging he took for an eight-figure paycheck around the time the economy was having its ass torn out but something so much worse. His rejection by 2008 Banker Of The Year, Ken Lewis.
In FT reporter Greg Farrell’s new book, Crash Of The Titans, he writes that “one thing was clear to Lewis”– that “the ‘Goldman Guys’– Thain, Kraus and Montag– had been in the process of taking over Merrill Lynch when he struck the deal to buy the Wall Street bank [and] that Peter Kraus would not fit into the organization.” Why didn’t K-L like Pedro? Specifically, in one particular meeting, Kraus “turned himself into the center of attention in the conference room, talking nonstop and continually flashing his bright green BlackBerry,” and in general? Ken Lewis hated Peter Kraus because he’s fabulous. Continue reading »
When Brian Moynihan took over as CEO of Bank of America, i.e. the job no one wanted, he knew he wouldn’t have the prestige or money associated with running Goldman Sachs, or the groupies that come with heading up JPMorgan. But at the time, he probably figured it’d at least be better than being the CEO of Citigroup. Sure, he’d have to clean Ken Lewis’s vomit stains out of the rug and spend a bunch of late nights making this thing work, but odd are he didn’t anticipate every waking hour being a scene out of torture movie, like it is these days given the whole mortgage mess gift Lewis and Angelo Mozilo left for him as a surprise. An Irish Rock, however, ’til now he hasn’t shown many signs of cracking. Today, feeling like he was in the company of friends at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Banking and Financial Services Conference, Bri-Moy unloaded about how much this job sucks.
“There’s a lot of people out there with a lot of thoughts about how we should solve this, but at the end of the day, we’ll pay for the things that Countrywide did,” said Moynihan. “It’s a day-to-day, hand-to-hand combat.”
As we care about the guy and just want to make sure everyone’s prepared with a shoulder to cry on, let’s just guesstimate now, so we can be ready, how long before Moynihan: Continue reading »
Wall Street loves to describe itself as various animals. Given. You’ve got your bulls and bears of course, but many firms like to put their own original spin on things. For instance, at Bridgewater, employees are told to “be the hyena, attacking the wildebeest.” And at Bank of America, according to a new book by Greg Farrell, at least under the regime of Ken Lewis and his underboss Steele Alphin, they were wolves. Continue reading »
Bank Of America Decides To Sell Majority Of BlackRock Stake Now That It Thinks About Things
By Bess Levin
Bank of America was a prettay prettay prettay good time when it was being run by Ken Lewis. The Strawberry Hill Boone’s Farm flowed freely and as a result of the boozing, you could buy any company you wanted, whether it was a ticking time bomb or made any sense strategically. It didn’t matter! You didn’t even have to justify it to anyone because everybody, the CEO most importantly, was there to party. “Who give a crap, just have fun,” the motto went. Unfortunately, now that Lewis is gone, God rest is soul, Brian Moynihan is taking a a slightly different, more sober approach to the business. Continue reading »
Would’ve thought this would be an area he’d excel, but no. This was the best he could come up with. Continue reading »
That’s what some local Charlotte TV station is alleging, claiming that Donna Lewis has been working as a sales rep for FHTM, “a multi-level marketer recently fined as a pyramid scheme.” The wife of KL doesn’t deny working for the company but takes offense to the notion that anything illegal is going down. “It is truly not a pyramid,” Lewis said. “It’s helping people in this horrible economy make a living.” Continue reading »
This should be you.
True or false: the one thing the financial services industry could really use right now is a good buzz? True. And while happy hours and the boozy lunch are always a good idea, you know what would be even better? For you to get hammered at the start of the day, after putting in like 30-60 minutes of work or maybe even on the way to the office. Would add a new and exciting twist to things, amiright? You know I am. To assist you in this pursuit, one NYDrinker has compiled a list of drinking establishments downtown that open at 8AM, though you probably know them all already, Lloyd.
