Bank of America Leadership In Question: Bove

Who is running the bank while the CEO is on T.V., an analyst asks.
By Dan Freed ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

CEO Brian Moynihan has gotten so much exposure lately that it has posed one analyst to ask: who is running the company?

Moynihan, who took over the top job at Bank of America at the start of the year after longtime boss Ken Lewis resigned under a cloud of controversy and a depressed stock price, appears to have been chosen because he is a "supersalesman," according to Rochdale Securities analyst Dick Bove.

"Let me tell you, it's working," Bove says of Moynihan's high visibility of late, which has included numerous media interviews and appearances at industry conferences in recent weeks, but the question is 'who's the other guy running the company? What's the vision?"

Bove contrasts Moynihan's style with other banking industry chief executives, like

U.S. Bancorp

(USB) - Get Report

boss Richard Davis,

Wells Fargo

(WFC) - Get Report

chief John Stumpf , who he says are "inside guys". Another contrast is Jamie Dimon of

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

, Bove argues.

"They've complained publicly that he refuses to appear on

CNBC

. He's not on

Bloomberg

. He just doesn't do that stuff," Bove says. Some might beg to differ since Dimon, who last appeared on CNBC in March, was on the cover of the most recent issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Citing a recent fine paid by

Bank of America

for "bribing municipal bond officials to get business," Bove argues Bank of America's management culture has fallen apart since the days of Hugh McColl, the former military man who once kept a live hand grenade on his desk.

"He eventually changed it to a glass grenade and he'd give out glass grenades at the end of the year to people who had done well," Bove says.

McColl successor Ken Lewis was a big proponent of Six Sigma, a management style that has long been popular at

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

.

"He would spend a lot of time talking about Six Sigma and how it was being implemented to improve operations. Apparently it was a total failure, but the point is: 'what's happened to Bank of America management and why the hell are they paying fines for supposedly bribing muni bond officials to get business?" Bove says.

Bove acknowledges that many of the current problems, such as the alleged muni bond malfeasance, occurred under Lewis's watch. Still, he believes current management is making a mistake by recently agreeing to pay two thirds of a $67.5 million fine levied by the

Securities and Exchange Commission

against former Countrywide chief Angelo Mozilo.

"You think Hugh McColl or Ken Lewis would pay Angelo Mozilo's fine?," Bove says.

A Bank of America spokesman replied with a statement saying has met more than than 200 times this year with bank management "to plan and execute the strategy and operating principles of the best franchise in the business," in addition to meeting with "more than 860 senior leaders of the company in the U.S. and outside the U.S."

A list of bullet points noted management accomplishments "against a backdrop of significant external turbulence from the most significant economic crisis in generations." They included lifting tangible common equity by 16 percent and tier 1 common up 13 percent while boosting liquidity by 50 percent and lowering chargeoffs by 40 percent.

The statement also cites "consistent earnings trends through three quarters," and the sale of "non-core assets" to raise more than $16 billion.

Bove, who has disputed the notion these assets are all "non-core," nonetheless has a "buy" on Bank of America's stock, arguing it trades well below the price that would be implied merely by adding up the current value of all its assets.

Bove himself is no stranger to publicity. Might he be envious of Moynihan for hogging the cameras?

"Am I envious of a guy who's 20 years younger than me, who's making tens of millions of dollars, who runs a large bank? You bet your bottom dollar," Bove said "Am I envious of him for talking to the press and being very visible as CEO? I don't think so."

--

Written by Dan Freed in New York

.

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors, reporters and analysts from holding positions in any individual stocks.

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