Felix Salmon
pestering preening potentates
What is Bank of America playing at?
The good news: Bank of America has ousted its chief risk officer. The bad news: Bank of America has replaced her with Greg Curl, who oversaw the acquisition not only of Merrill Lynch but also of Countrywide, which was run fraudulently (according to the SEC) by Angelo Mozilo. Some risk management there.
Curl is a dealmaker, not a risk-management professional; he’s also far too close to senior management, and far too invested in prior strategic decisions, to effectively serve in his new role. The choice of Curl is an atrocious one, and I hope that BofA’s regulators are making their displeasure known in no uncertain terms.
Update: Matt Goldstein gets a great quote out of a BofA spokesman:
Robert Stickler, a bank spokesman, says people are more than free to question the promotion of Curl but to refer to him as a crony or confidant of Lewis is silly.
“This just shows how much you don’t know. Greg has been Mr. Outsider at the bank for years,” he said.
Which only raises the question: What on earth was Mr Outsider doing being charged with buying Countrywide and Merrill?
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Ken Lewis has to testify before a Congressional panel next week on his stewardship of BofA. Imagine what kind of fodder this move will make for questions from the panel!
I can imagine “So Mr. Lewis, why did you think naming a Midwestern banker with no finance or mathematics degrees, no prior experience in sophisticated risk management and who was partly responsible for two of your most troubling acquisitions as Chief Risk Officer was a good idea? What do you think this says about your managerial acumen?”
this is the banking industry’s version of the bush administration. Somebody screws up, give them a medal of honor.
Anyone who believes ousting Amy Brinkley as Chief Risk Officer is a good move needs a severe Reality Check, STAT.
She was one of the few capable people in Upper Management, which is one of the reasons she has been marginalized over the past several years.
This is scapegoating–neither a good move nor a sensible one. If I weren’t already short BAC, I’d be selling in size on that news.
nice article..thanks for your blog about Bank of America