Posted on 10/06/2011 9:22:39 AM PDT by tobyhill
Bank of America's CEO defended his bank's new $5 fee on debit cards on Wednesday, saying that customers and shareholders understand the bank has a "right to make a profit."
Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) CEO Brian Moynihan defended the move, which the bank announced last week in response to new caps on debit card swipe fees that the banks charge retailers.
Bank of America's announcement of a new debit card fee was followed today by an announcement of new checking account fees by Citibank (C, Fortune 500). These new bank fees have fueled a populist backlash that has coincided with a series of protests against Wall Street banks around the nation.
Moynihan stopped short of criticizing President Obama who earlier this week said to ABC that banks don't have an "inherent right" to a "certain amount of profit."
But BofA's chief did say banks have an inherent right to make a profit in an interview Wednesday with CNBC's Larry Kudlow at the Washington Ideas Forum, sponsored by the Newseum, the Aspen Institute and the Atlantic magazine.
"I have an inherent duty as a CEO of a publicly owned company to get a return for my shareholders," Moynihan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
You have that right until you take TAXPAYER funds. Then you become the property of the public. Ask Bell Canada how that is working out.
You got in Bed with the Fascist Rapist. don’t B***h about losing your virginity.
Sorry, y’all. BOA was FORCED to take the money, if you recall. And paid it back early and in full.
Its disingenuous to now fault them for taking it and especially to claim that since they took it they forfeited their right to run their business as they see fit in perpetuity, or whatever.
That said, BOA does have the right to make a profit and can charge whatever they think the market will bear. I do NOT, however have to see what they charge as fair and I do not have to pay it.
We are not taking about Wells Fargo, we are talking about Bank of America. B of A had their hand out and would have gone bankrupt if not bailed out and they still might go bankrupt. For some reason, they let Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns go belly up, yet the some got bailed out. Probably a connection with Bernanke and/or Paulson. Now we are bailing our the Europeans as well. The whole thing makes me sick. The protesters have the underlying idea right, but what we need is free market capitalism, not communism or crony capitalism (what we currently have). Frankly, I don’t care what Obama does to Bank of America. I have already written them off as another government institution because that is what they have become.
“But not now”
Your gripe for past sins have no bearing on whether BofA charges a fee to compensate for Dodd/Frank’s ill conceived regulation.
Fine. And we have the right to take our business elsewhere.
No they don’t. I couldn’t care less if the charge the fee or not. I don’t have an account with them. My gripe is with bailing their asses out, them turning the money in my pocket into worthless paper, then they say they have a right to profit. They do not.
Competition should solve this...if only government would stop the stupid regulation.
The problem with this stuff is simple. The regulations that may actually have done some good (like some parts of Glass-Steagal) have been eliminated, and those that simply cause problems (the Durbin Amendment as an example) are passed like they are from God Himself.
You are so right.
I see, and how do you plan on constraining their right to a profit?
There are several companies that should have gone bankrupt rather than be bailed out at taxpayer expense, such as GM.
Would you feel better if they all just shut down tomorrow and turned their bank accounts over to Obama?
Cuz you know he’d just send you a check for your “fair share”......
It may be a parsing of words, but I don't think any individual or entity has a "right" to "make a profit." We have the right to (try and) earn a profit, and while the words may have very similar implications, I think the choice of one word over the other ('make' vs. 'earn') reflects a profound fundamental difference in outlook.
What an idiot. No business has a right to make a profit. They have the right to *try* to make a profit, and to shut down if they consistently fail.
How have so many nincompoops risen to such high positions in this country? It’s truly bizarre.
Ok,,,point taken.
I’ll ammend: They have a right to try to earn a profit...and as much profit as the market will bear.
I don’t believe in bail-outs. That is totally not the capitalist way. Blame that on Bush, and later, on Obama.
But we are a capitalist society. Everyone should go make money.
Not only do they have to right to a profit, BOA has an obligation to its investors to turn a profit. If a customer does not like how that profit is made, or the size of the profit, they have the right to do business elsewhere. Any statements to the contrary are the results of a retarded thought process from a conservative point of view.
I should clarify; it should read “the right to attempt to make a profit,”
And when a bank trying to make a profit fails, it has no right to expect a bailout.
All of this erroneous thinking by CEOs is what put the us in the swamp we now find ourselves. Too bad US education failed so miserably!
Do something useful. Go demonstrate at the Board of Education and get rid of unionized education instead of haunting Wall Street.
“Obama said that they cannot raise the fee to the merchant or collect enough to pay for the service anymore. So guess what? They’ve got to get paid for this service somewhere, and who else are they going to get it from?”
So tell me, just who do the consumers think were paying these fees before? Just like corporations passing along taxes to the consumers, the banks, loosing the ability to charge the businesses (who were just passing the costs along to the consumer), now just charge the consumer directly. I hate BofA as much as the next guy, but this isn’t their problem. The Marxist/Demorats are to blame. It’s just more of the same old class warfare bullshit! They think that they can keep selling the free lunch. The “poor consumer” is getting screwed. I don’t think so. He’s just now getting to actually see what he’s been paying for all along. So go ahead and leave BofA, but do it for the right reason.
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