Bank of America CFO Leaving in Latest Management Overhaul

Bank of America Chairman and Chief Executive Brian Moynihan is shuffling his executive team once again.

The moves were broad, multifaceted and affected nine executives who were named in a three-page news release late Wednesday.

Among the many changes: Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson will step down and be succeeded by Paul Donofrio; Vice Chairman David Darnell plans to retire in the fourth quarter; responsibility for stress testing will gradually shift away from executive Terry Laughlin; and longtime executive Cathy Bessant's title has been updated to reflect her operational responsibilities.

Three executives will become vice chairmen: Anne Finucane, who continues as global chief strategy and marketing officer; Gary Lynch, who remains general counsel; and Laughlin, who will become head of global wealth and investment management later in the year.

Andrea Smith, global human resources executive, has been promoted to the newly created position of chief administrative officer. She is "taking on a broad portfolio of responsibilities that reflect her deep understanding of the company and her management expertise," the release said. She will oversee global corporate strategy, legacy assets and servicing, community engagement, corporate security and several other duties.

Smith inherits the strategy duties from Laughlin right away and will work with him on Bank of America’s Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review planning. Laughlin will be responsible for the resubmission of the 2015 plan, which received conditional approval from the Federal Reserve earlier this year. The resubmission is due in September. The two executives will work together on the bank's 2016 CCAR plan and then those duties will become Smith's responsibility in the future.

Donofrio, who has held a number of senior positions at the bank, will take over Thompson’s CFO role on Aug. 1. Thompson will assist Donofrio and remain on the management team till yearend, the release said.

Thompson, who has served as the Charlotte, N.C., company’s CFO and chief risk officer for more than five years, "has decided to step down," the release said. It did not say what he plans to do next.

Thompson “has put our company on a strong, stable financial foundation, with record levels of capital and liquidity,” Moynihan was quoted in the release.

Moynihan also described Darnell, who has been with the company 35 years, as a "mentor and friend to me, our management team, and so many leaders of our company." Besides being vice chairman, Darnell oversaw global wealth and investment management, a job which will be handed over to Laughlin, who is a former chairman of Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust.

Bank of America recently reported relatively upbeat second-quarter results. It more than doubled its profit to $5.3 billion, largely on the back of sharply lower legal costs tied to crisis-era issues. However, revenue declined in its four core business lines, including consumer banking and investment and corporate banking.

Moynihan told analysts last week that there is more to be done in revenue generation and expense control. "We are satisfied that we are starting to see the hard work of all our teammates come through, but we're not satisfied in the sense that we expect better performance on both the revenue and expense dynamic in the future," he said on a call with analysts. "We'll keep working at it."

In other moves announced Wednesday, Sheri Bronstein, currently human resources executive for the global banking and global markets business lines, will succeed Smith as the top HR executive.

Bessant has been B of A's top technology official. Her job title was renamed chief operations and technology officer to better reflect her operational duties related to platform security and reliability, the company said.

Moynihan has periodically shaken up his management team since taking over the company in 2010. The following year, for example, he ousted wealth management chief Sallie Krawcheck and consumer banking president Joe Price. At that time he named Darnell and Tom Montag co-chief operating officers.

Chris Cumming contributed to this report.

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