Result of Bank of America Shareholder Vote: Ken Lewis Out as Chairman
The results of the much anticipated Bank of America shareholder vote are in, and the verdict is that Ken Lewis is out as chairman. Lewis did, however, receive unanimous support from the board of directors to stay on as CEO — for now. Replacing Ken Lewis as chairman of Bank of America will be Walter Massey, who has been on the Bank of America board of directors since 1998.
As pointed by Reuters in its article about the Bank of America shareholder vote to oust Ken Lewis as chairman:
Similar moves last year foreshadowed the ouster of the chief executives of two large, troubled banks — Ken Thompson at Wachovia Corp and Kerry Killinger at Washington Mutual Inc. Wachovia was later bought by Wells Fargo, while Washington Mutual failed.
“It’s kind of the first step toward the end for Lewis,” said Ralph Cole, portfolio manager, at Ferguson Wellman Capital Management in Portland, Oregon. “It shows there’s at least some constituency that’s not happy with his performance. I just don’t think he’s going to last,” he added.
The vote to oust Ken Lewis comes on the same day that another chairman at another bank also lost his position. Earlier in the day Wednesday, Daniel Bouton stepped down at Societe Generale, the third largest bank in France, in the wake of massive losses caused in large part by poor risk management.
According to Reuters, about 2,000 people were in attendance at the annual Bank of America shareholder meeting. Among the compliants levied by shareholders in the direction of Ken Lewis was, not surprisingly, criticism of his leadership during BofA’s purchase of Merrill Lynch. Lewis, however, defended the purchase and reiterated his claim that regulators pressured him to not disclose Merrill’s losses.
Related Resources:
- Ken Lewis out as BofA chairman, stays on as CEO — (Reuters)
- Bank of America strips Lewis of Chairman’s Job — (Bloomberg)
- Merrill deal was one too many for BofA’s Lewis — (AP)
- Bank of America gives chairman Lewis the boot — (BizJournals)
- Lewis out as BofA chairman — (AP)
Tags: bank of america, banks, ken lewis
