At Bank of America’s last investor day in 2011, then-newly appointed chief executive Brian Moynihan outlined plans to stabilise a lender still reeling from the financial crisis that shook Wall Street three years earlier.
Now 14 years later, Moynihan — one of the longest-serving Wall Street CEOs — will make his case at an investor day on Wednesday that he can unleash an era of rapid growth at America’s second-biggest bank by assets.
BofA is a different bank today than it was in 2011. Its share price has risen nearly fourfold since the last investor day as Moynihan steadied the group after its $45bn crisis-era bailout and integrated investment bank Merrill Lynch, which it rescued in 2008.
But its valuation has trailed far behind Jamie Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank.
When Moynihan took up the top job in 2010, BofA’s $135bn market value was roughly comparable to JPMorgan’s almost $170bn. Today, a yawning gap has opened, with BofA valued at less than half of JPMorgan’s roughly $850bn. BofA last year generated $27.1bn in net income, dwarfed by the $58.5bn earned by JPMorgan.
BofA’s shares have jumped by a fifth so far in 2025, but it has still lagged behind big bank peers JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.
With the Trump administration seeking to loosen financial regulations and Moynihan signalling his tenure could conclude by the end of the decade, the lender must now convince investors that it can seize new opportunities.
“This is Bank of America 3.0,” said Mike Mayo, an analyst at Wells Fargo. “Bank of America 2.0 was the recovery from the global financial crisis [and] the responsible growth mantra . . . Bank of America 3.0 is about leaning into growth with more opportunistic risk taking.”
The shareholder event also comes in the context of pivotal changes in the bank’s shareholder base. Warren Buffett, a major backer of the bank since the aftermath of the financial crisis, started aggressively cutting his stake in the lender in July last year. Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway now owns about 8 per cent of the stock, down from a peak of 13 per cent.
Some analysts say the bank has been too risk-averse in recent years. Despite its global footprint and scale, its trading revenues have trailed behind peers, and analysts say the bank could do more to woo rich clients for its wealth management unit.
At his last investor day in 2011, Moynihan declared BofA’s days of major acquisitions over in part because of its ill-fated purchase of subprime mortgage giant Countrywide Financial, which saddled it with toxic loans at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis.
Some analysts now expect that strategic deals could be back on the table as banks reap the benefit from regulatory easing around capital requirements.
Analysts are hoping the bank will set out plans to boost its return on tangible common equity — a key measure of profitability — from about 15 per cent in the third quarter. Rivals JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are have set medium term targets of 17-18 per cent.
Wednesday’s event will also give the bank an opportunity to address some blemishes on its record. It poured money into bonds when the industry received a flood of deposits during the pandemic, while others parked it in cash.
BofA has since been whittling down this portfolio under a programme led by chief financial officer Alastair Borthwick, who was appointed to the role in 2021. BofA’s paper losses from these holdings swelled to $100bn in 2023 when the Federal Reserve’s move to boost interest rates dealt a heavy blow to fixed income markets.
While these unrealised losses registered $88bn in the third quarter of 2025, the bank has avoided crystallising them by holding the debt to maturity.
“[The bond mishap was a] black eye for Bank of America,” Wells Fargo’s Mayo said. “And that continues to be a drag on earnings today . . . Having said that, it is water under the bridge, and what had been a headwind is now a tailwind for their growth ahead.”
With investors contemplating the prospect of Moynihan’s succession, the gathering in Boston will also give the bank a chance to showcase potential future leaders. In September, it overhauled its senior leadership, elevating head of regional banking Dean Athanasia, and Jim DeMare, head of global markets, as group co-presidents. Borthwick received the additional title of executive vice-president.
The trio are contenders for the top job. But their fate hinges on how long Moynihan — who is also chair — ends up staying in the role. The 66-year-old Ohio native and former lawyer has indicated that he intends to remain until the end of the decade, when the three top executives could be considered too old for the job. This means shareholders may also look at other business heads set to present at the investor day as viable candidates.
“It wouldn’t be surprising if the next CEO of Bank of America is someone who is at the investor day,” said Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg. The event “will give the street the opportunity to see some of these people in action”.
Additional reporting by Joshua Franklin in New York
