Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Quotes from BofA's shareholders meeting

Bank of America held its annual shareholders meeting in Charlotte Wednesday. And, as usual, CEO Brian Moynihan got an earful from attendees, who confronted him about the bank's 1-cent quarterly dividend, its miscalculation of capital ratios and other issues.

At one point, two shareholders even got into a shouting match with each other.

Here is some of what was said in the meeting:

“You’ve cost me close to $12,000 of annual income. I’ve had to liquidate a good portion of my assets, which makes it very difficult when two young boys ask me for $600, which I’ve always provided, so they can play baseball this summer and I have to tell them that I don’t have the cash available. So when you talk about what the story is and how good this place is, you need to go back far enough and really comment on the lies by your predecessor, the lies by you.”
- Shareholder Judy Koenick, criticizing Moynihan about the dividend and share price not being as high as in past years

"Within 24-ish hours."
- Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson on how long it took the bank to report the capital ratios mistake to its board of directors

"Where was the breakdown in controls? ... Is this just a big mishap?"
- Bank of America analyst Mike Mayo, asking about the capital ratios error

"I still believe, very firmly, this bank is not too big to manage."
- Bank of America Chairman "Chad" Holliday

"I can't predict at this point what the outcome will be for shareholders."
- Thompson on what the bank's plans will be for buying back shares and raising its dividend, after its capital plans were suspended because of the capital ratios miscalculation

"This was an error that we made and we found."
- Moynihan on the miscalculation

"You are a credit to the Irish! You are the finest CEO in America!"
- Shareholder Peggy McMahon, speaking to Moynihan

"I own over 500 shares of Bank of America stock and get a check for about $5. That's a penny per stock. People who own stock were told this was temporary. It's obviously not. How invested are you in America? You don't value investors with a dividend."
- A 13-year-old shareholder, speaking to Moynihan

"One of the tough things we've had to do is to size our company down based on the revenue streams and profit ... (in order to do) a great job for our customers. And it has an impact that no person could ever want to have, which is people lose their jobs. ... It's one of the toughest things I have to do."
- Moynihan on the jobs the bank has slashed to lower its expenses by billions of dollars a year 

0 comments: