NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said on Wednesday he is not leaving the bank in the short term, but added the company has to line up candidates with experience to run the company in the future, according to an interview on Bloomberg TV.
"I'm not going anywhere in the short term, but in the medium term... it takes a while to set that up and get people used to the size and scale of this company," Moynihan said.
"Long term, we have one of the duties that I and the whole management
teams owes the board of directors is a series of candidates that had the experience to run this company over time," he added.
BofA on Friday appointed Dean Athanasia and Jim DeMare as co-presidents, in a sign that the second-largest U.S. lender is preparing potential successors for CEO Moynihan.
Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick was named an executive vice president.
Piper Sandler analysts said in a note the announcement identifies the three individuals most likely to succeed Moynihan upon his eventual retirement.
Moynihan also talked about expansion in the United Kingdom in the interview, saying the bank is relocating 1,000 staff to the UK.
Earlier a UK government announcement said Bank of America is set to create up to 1,000 new jobs in Belfast, marking its first-ever operation in Northern Ireland.
Moynihan also said that whether the Federal Reserve cuts by 25 basis points or 50 basis points, the central bank will have to be mindful of inflation.
"The tension the Fed has to deal with, and you've been picking at it all day, is the tension between a higher inflation rate and ultimately where Fed funds could settle in at," he told Bloomberg TV.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Arasu Kannagi Basil; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
