Exclusive | BofA boss Brian Moynihan forced by board, restless shareholders to hold first investor day in 14 years: sources

It took him long enough.This week, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan will hold his first “investor day” since 2011 – breaking 14 years of silence that nicely highlights the positively awful job he has done communicating with investors.Insiders say that 66-year-old Moynihan, who only recently laid out a succession plan, was likely prodded to call the Wednesday powwow by his board, which is fielding shareholder demands for a clear plan to boost the bank’s stock price – and a strategy to compete against its archrival, Jamie Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase.BofA is the US’s second-largest bank by assets, right behind JPM.But by many other metrics, it’s an also-ran.

Its stock perennially lags JPM’s – and all the other big banks, for that matter.It fails to win big banking assignments that go to JPM and Goldman Sachs.

Nor does it capitalize on trading volatility because it’s been so risk averse.Insiders blame Moynihan, a lawyer by training who cut his managerial teeth as general counsel of Fleet Boston, which was among the multitude of acquisitions that led to the creation of the modern BofA.He took over as CEO in 2010, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis that nearly caused BofA to collapse.Moynihan won praise for his early caution, but according to critics inside and out of the bank, he’s been running the place the same way ever since by scaling back on risk and merely managing the bank’s balance sheet.

It’s the reason why the stock has lagged JPMorgan and all of the Big 6 banks.Critics say part of Moynihan’s problem is that he never left Boston.He still manages BofA’s sprawling operations there with a few confidantes, even though its main headquarters is in New York (with a huge hub in Charlotte where it was once domiciled before its massive expansion).

The investor day is being held not in NYC but in Boston.Another problem is BofA’s board.It’s considered among the most CEO-friendly in finance, which is why Moynihan didn’t set...