A Bank of America executive discussed her bank’s fight to shore up its post-recession reputation Wednesday morning, in addition to touching on the recent damaging reports that Bank of America is set to be WikiLeak’s next data-dump victim.
Anne Finucane, Boston-based global strategy and marketing officer, said although WikiLeaks’ founder claimed to have a major bank executive’s computer hard drive – widely believed to be from Bank of America – it is not confirmed that her bank is the target in this case.
Regardless, she said, Bank of America is no stranger to public scrutiny: the bank already spent two years under the microscope in the wake of the financial crisis and acquisitions of two damaged institutions.
In an information-heavy society, she said, nothing remains hidden for long.
"We’ve been out there 24/7, whether those of us who run communications like it or not," she said. The lesson there, Finucane added: "Watch what you do."
Finucane spoke before a packed crowd at a Boston Chamber of Commerce event at the Boston Harbor Hotel, the day after speculation exploded on whether WikiLeaks, which recently released a bevy of sensitive diplomatic information, would reveal unflattering documents about Bank of America. The bank’s stock dropped more than 3 percent Tuesday on speculation that internal files would be revealed.
The bank has officially stated that it has no evidence that WikiLeaks took its documents, and the issue was only a small part of Finucane’s comments. Her speech touched on both her personal experiences as well as Bank of America’s bumpy ride.
The onset of the financial crisis knocked the high-flying bank into an unexpected rollercoaster, where "our industry’s reputation fell like a stone," and the Bank of America brand got dragged down with it.
But while it was tempting to put all its energy into "hunkering down" in the wake of that turbulence, the bank instead made moves to tackle industry problems head-on. To start with, it repaid the $45 billion it owed in TARP money to the U.S. Treasury and completed its acquisitions of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. In addition, it broke with the industry in supporting government efforts at consumer protection reform, including the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and voluntarily decided to stop charging debit overdraft fees.
Finucane also sounded positive notes about Bank of America’s lending – for 2009, a seriously financially troubled year in the nation, the bank lent $758 billion, and has committed donations of $200 million to nonprofits. Locally, the bank has supported neighborhood revitalization projects in Lawrence and New Bedford, as well as the Museum of Fine Art’s major expansion.
The bank still has a major challenge in the form of completing its foreclosures, but it has moved to clarify and simplify its credit contracts with customers, as well as addressing consumers’ worries about organizing their finances and protecting themselves from identity theft, she said.
