Earlier today, we were told that Brian Moynihan's speech at the Citi Financial Services was interrupted by several protesters chanting "bust up Bank of America before it busts up America." One did so running down the aisles, one jumped onto the stage and grabbed the mic from Moynihan, and one "jumped on a table in front of the stage and pulled off her top to show the slogan written across her chest," before being escorted out. Some of, as is your wont, requested visual evidence before you would believe it happened. Here you go.
Bank Of America Protester Gives Brian Moynihan A Mouthful
Today at the Citi Financial Services conference at the Waldorf: a woman in a low-cut dress came down the aisle during Moynihan's presentation and started chanting "bust up Bank of America before it busts up America" (she also had the slogan written across her shirt). They cleared her out and then another one came onto the stage, elbowed Moynihan out of the way and took the microphone to do the same thing-- security hauled here away before she could strip. Then a third one jumped on a table in front of the stage, pulled off her top-- had the slogan written across her rack-- and started chanting. It took a good 1-2 minutes to get her out of there.
Bonus Watch '12: Third Year Bank Of America CEO's
After a year of layoffs, topless hecklers, people who won't stop yelling at him, jokes that sting, and continuing to "reap the benefits of what Countrywide sowed," things are looking up for Brian Moynihan. Bank of America Corp., the second- biggest U.S. lender, more than quadrupled Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan’s 2011 compensation to $8.09 million. Salary was unchanged at $950,000 while his stock awards surged to $6.1 million from zero the previous year, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender said today in a regulatory filing. The figures conform to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines. [Bloomberg]
Bank Of America Hoping To Fire Thousands Of Employees In Record Time
Remember Project New BAC, i.e. Bank of America's plan to transform itself from Ken Lewis's house of fun, where everyone went home happy but the concept of making money was less of a focus than keeping the good times coming, to an institution that did things like post profits? The bank has said previously that PNBAC "will result in $8 billion in annual savings by 2015—$5 billion from the first phase and $3 billion from a second phase" and while it stands by those figures and remains committed to cutting as many employees as it takes, some people would like them to be a bit snappier about it. Bank of America is accelerating a broad cost-cutting plan and has set a target of shedding 16,000 jobs by year's end—cuts that would see the company relinquish its title as U.S. banking's largest employer. The proposed year-end total of 260,000 would be the lowest count since 2008 and likely give Bank of America a smaller workforce than JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, or Wells Fargo...Chief Executive Brian Moynihan is trying to speed the company's transformation into a smaller and more efficient operation as he tries to persuade investors that expenses can be adjusted to compensate for revenue lost to new regulations, an uneven economy and shaky markets. Since becoming CEO in 2010, he has shifted away from a nationwide expansion strategy embraced by his predecessors Hugh L. McColl Jr. and Kenneth D. Lewis, and shed many of the businesses that he considers to be nonessential...Hitting the new staffing target would fulfill a year early Mr. Moynihan's pledge to slash the bank's workforce by approximately 30,000. "If they want to make any headway toward improving profitability," said Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. senior banking analyst Todd Hagerman, "they need to accelerate the timeline." Bank Of America Ramps Up Job Cuts [WSJ]