By Christina Rexrode And Peter Rudegeair
Thomas Montag rose to second in command at Bank of America Corp.
in large part by making his investment-banking units consistently
among the firm's most profitable.
Now, as Mr. Montag's group struggles through its toughest patch
in years, it gets a new mandate: Do more with less.
Bank of America on Tuesday announced plans to lay off about 200
employees--all in Mr. Montag's trading and investment-banking
units--as Chief Executive Brian Moynihan makes good on his pledge
from earlier this month that he would further reduce costs if
results didn't improve.
The moves highlight the pressure on Mr. Montag, a former
Stanford University baseball player and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
trader who faces the difficult task of maintaining morale and
competitiveness at the investment bank while enforcing the
conservative and increasingly cost-conscious mandates of his
boss.
Bank of America's investment-banking and trading units in recent
years routinely generated as much as 40% of revenue with less than
10% of the bank's staff.
But it is the only large U.S. bank to post a decline in revenue
from trading and investment banking for the first half of this
year. The bank has lost ground in areas it has identified for
expansion, such as mergers and acquisitions. Recently, more
managing directors in the investment bank have departed than at
rivals J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. combined,
according to a confidential report from recruiting firm Sheffield
Haworth that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The report
examined departures from the start of 2014 through the first half
of this year.
The tension within the investment bank is in many ways a legacy
of the awkward 2009 marriage between Bank of America--long a large
consumer-focused bank--and Merrill Lynch, the historic Wall Street
firm that overloaded on risky securities in the years before the
financial crisis.
Many Merrill bankers, used to operating in regional fiefdoms,
have long been annoyed at Bank of America's stricter oversight of
their business decisions like hiring and compensation, said people
familiar with the matter. A few years ago, Mr. Montag supported an
idea to call his units "Merrill Lynch" rather than their current
title, "Bank of America Merrill Lynch," people close to the
situation said. Some bankers thought the Merrill Lynch brand would
be more appealing to some clients.
Mr. Moynihan, who disagreed, won out.
Bank of America's more regimented culture has manifested itself
in various ways. Senior bankers have chafed at a requirement that
they fill out time sheets documenting how they spend each hour,
current and former employees said. The bank has also cut back on
leveraged loans due to tougher regulatory scrutiny, even while some
rivals pressed ahead.
The bank said its caution is appropriate. In a memo earlier this
year, Mr. Moynihan said Mr. Montag's global banking and global
markets groups had "struck the risk-reward balance that is the new
standard for our industry."
Mr. Moynihan has said he wants Mr. Montag's trading business to
take less risk than it might have in the past and to produce less
volatile earnings. He has said Mr. Montag's banking business, which
helps corporate clients with transactions, can grow along with
customers.
In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Montag said new regulations mean
the bank is no longer going to engage in some of the products and
activities that it may have even just a few years ago. "The rules
have changed," Mr. Montag said.
Mr. Moynihan won a proxy battle this month enabling him to keep
the title of chairman as well as CEO. But the firm has lagged
behind peers on measures like stock performance and profits, and
some analysts believe Mr. Moynihan's expense-cutting strategy is
starting to run out of steam.
Mr. Montag, 58 years old, joined Bank of America when it bought
Merrill, though he had been at Merrill only briefly at the time.
People at the firm said he presents a personality contrast to Mr.
Moynihan, a detail-oriented workhorse who isn't known to be
gregarious. Mr. Montag spent much of his Goldman career in Japan,
has been known to sing karaoke at work functions and frequently
walks the trading floor to chat up employees, people who have
worked with him said.
The two executives aren't personally close, people familiar with
the matter said.
In July, when Mr. Moynihan shook up his management team, Mr.
Montag was the first executive named in the memo, leading many
investors and analysts to assume that he is the leading candidate
if Mr. Moynihan were to step down in the near term. Mr. Moynihan
praised Mr. Montag's "energetic record of accomplishment," as well
as his "expertise and steady hand."
Bank of America has depended heavily on the investment bank
since buying Merrill Lynch on the cusp of the financial crisis, as
low interest rates have challenged the consumer bank. Mr. Montag's
units also often carried the bank through its long years of high
legal costs, many of which stemmed from the consumer unit.
But Mr. Montag's group is now slipping in some key areas.
This year, the bank dropped to No. 12 in health-care deals from
No. 2 last year, according to Dealogic. Overall, the bank's track
record this year puts it at risk of losing its place among the top
three investment banks as measured by fees for the first time since
the Merrill Lynch acquisition.
One area where Mr. Montag appears to be gaining traction is in
his push to get his investment bank to work with the consumer bank
and wealth- management unit. The strategy, known as cross-selling,
is meant to encourage investment bankers to entice corporate
clients to do other business with the bank, such as 401(k)s for its
employees or a mortgage for its CEO.
At one company function, Mr. Montag wore a hat and T-shirt
emblazoned with the words "Cross Sell." The bank said earlier this
year that referral volume had increased to 4.2 million in 2014 from
300,000 in 2010, with a success rate of 20%.
Part of Bank of America's problem is the business mix. Bank of
America's trading unit tends to focus on credit products and
mortgage-backed securities, which have fared poorly this year
across the industry. Asked earlier this year if the bank needed to
change its trading makeup, Mr. Moynihan replied that the current
setup created lower risk and would perform better when credit
products pick up.
"It's not an existential question at all," Mr. Moynihan said at
the time.The bank said it has hired other employees this year in
banking and trading, including more than 650 recent graduates as
analysts and associates.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 29, 2015 19:22 ET (23:22 GMT)
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