Firm recommends BofA separates CEO and chairman roles

Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan is in for a bumpy ride this month.

That much was assured on Wednesday after proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recommended shareholders vote against a bank proposal that would allow the 55-year-old executive to keep both his CEO and chairman titles.

Moynihan added the chairman title at the country’s No. 2 bank last October, when the board overrode shareholders who had voted in 2009 to keep the positions separate.

While BofA has maintained that it has changed significantly since that shareholder vote, Glass Lewis said that it wasn’t a good enough reason to have Moynihan in the company’s two most powerful roles.

Plus, the move “demonstrated a worrying disregard” for shareholders, Glass Lewis said.

The recent departure of Bruce Thompson, the bank’s chief financial officer, “further compounded” the proxy adviser’s concerns about whether Moynihan can handle the role, said the report.

The Glass Lewis move follows similar actions by the country’s largest pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, in opposing the bank measure.

CLSA analyst Mike Mayo has called the bank’s measure a Moynihan “power grab.”

Dual titles aren’t uncommon among Wall Street bigs. JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein both hold those roles.

But those banks have posted better results than BofA.

The Charlotte, NC, bank believes the proposal, to be voted on by stock owners on Sept. 22, is in the best interest of the shareholders.

Moynihan has been the CEO since 2010.