Bank of America Corp. said Monday that it will give shareholders
the chance to vote on the board's decision in October to give the
chairmanship to CEO Brian Moynihan.
When board members last fall made Mr. Moynihan the board
chairman, they overturned a 2009 shareholder-passed rule requiring
that the two jobs be held by separate people, and changed the
bank's bylaws.
In a letter to shareholders, signed by Mr. Moynihan and the
board's lead independent director, Jack Bovender, the bank said "a
number of stockholders" had told the bank that they "should have
been given the opportunity to vote to ratify the board's bylaw
change."
The bank will hold its annual meeting Wednesday, but that vote
won't be on the ballot yet. The bank said it will hold the vote
before next year's annual meeting. The board already changed the
bylaw, so the vote is meant to confirm the board's decision.
"We appreciate the candor with which stockholders have shared
their insights, both in support of the decision and in expressing
reservations about the process," Mr. Bovender and Mr. Moynihan
wrote in the letter to shareholders.
Write to Christina Rexrode at christina.rexrode@wsj.com
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