In a recent ABC interview, Virginia Hamerness, one of the descendants of the Bank of America founders, named the executives of BOA “a bunch of idiots”. Why
Well, let’s start with the fact that they agreed to buy Merrill Lynch last fall, even after learning that the outgoing CEO paid lavish bonuses to the same executives who oversaw Merrill’s downward spiral. In her opinion, this was more than stupid – it was playing around with shareholders’ money (she among themselves). When they were given those bonuses,” Hammerness says, “I think Bank of America should have said, ‘Go drown. Go drown yourselves.’ I’m sure he and my father are turning over in their graves. I’m sure they are.”
Her grandfather (Giannini), even refused a $1.5 million bonus because “He didn’t believe in having a lot,” his granddaughter recalls. “He says too much money is bad.” This tells a lot about the old school banking and the new school of banking – whilst some of those new hounds are hungry only for the money, the old school boys looked for glory too…