Wave of Senior Bankers Leaving US Banking Giant | Has the Era of Bank of America Come to an End?

Bank of America (BOAF) faces a serious challenge in retaining key personnel and strengthening its position in investment banking after several senior bankers and influential traders departed. Senior executives' efforts to prevent one of the bank's most prominent female executives from joining JPMorgan also failed. Together with the departure of several other bankers, this has prompted management to react.

World Economic Group; According to a Reuters report on October 13, 2026, the wave of departures of Bank of America (BAOF) senior bankers has occurred in a situation where the capital market boom and increased transactions have intensified the competition of major Wall Street banks to attract specialists. The main concern of Bank of America executives is that the continued departure of senior bankers, in addition to demoralizing employees, will reinforce the perception that the bank is lagging behind its competitors in the investment banking competition.

The failure of the CEO's attempt to retain one of the most influential female executives

In the first week of August, Amy Lissauer, one of Bank of America's longest-serving and most senior female executives, was considering an offer to join rival bank JPMorgan. Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, and Faiz Ahmed, co-head of global investment banking, tried to convince him to stay, according to people with knowledge of the matter. But these efforts were not successful.

The significance of Lissauer's departure was not limited to his long history. He was known as one of the leading figures in the defense of companies against activist investors; Investors who are looking for management changes and revisions in companies' strategies.

JPMorgan, the largest bank in America, was looking for him for years and after his employment, he announced this news to the public. Keeping Lissauer was a priority for Bank of America, but JPMorgan's proposed package was so attractive that Bank of America felt it could not compete, said a person familiar with the matter.

His departure was part of a wave of transfer of bankers in the past year. Kevin Branner, a technology banker who spent more than 25 years at Bank of America and was known for his close ties to software company Salesforce, announced that he will join JPMorgan in late 2025.

David Fishman, one of the former co-chairs of mergers and acquisitions of technology, media and telecommunications companies at Bank of America, who spent 16 years at the bank, is also set to join JPMorgan later this year. In the same week that Lissauer left the bank, Mike Jue, co-head of global investment banking, and Ed Liu, technology banker, also left the bank.

Bank of America ranks fourth

Bankers at rival institutions on Wall Street see Ao America's banking staff as strong competitors in attracting clients and conducting merger and acquisition deals. However, data from financial information and analysis firm DiLogic shows Bank of America ranked fourth in the global investment banking fee rankings for 2025 and 2026.

The artificial intelligence boom has helped Morgan Stanley overtake Bank of America to third place. Previously, in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Bank of America was ranked third behind JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs and ahead of Morgan Stanley.

Despite this, Bank of America has emphasized that it has a strong position in financing capital markets related to artificial intelligence. According to DiLogic data, since January 2026, this bank has managed the supply of bonds and stocks worth 818 billion dollars; A figure that includes 59% of the total attracted capital related to artificial intelligence in the three areas of investment grade debt securities, leveraged financing and equity capital markets.

A Bank of America spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters: "Our global business has strong momentum and we play the role of principal advisor to clients in many influential and decisive transactions in various industries."

He added that this year the bank has attracted dozens of senior bankers from its big competitors; According to him, this issue shows the strength of the bank's infrastructure and service platform and the breadth of its solutions for customers in America and around the world.

Managers took action to prevent employee morale from falling

After the news of the bankers' departure was published in early August, Fayez Ahmed tried to ease the employees' worries in a face-to-face meeting on August 10. More than 50 people, including vice presidents and executives, were invited to attend the meeting at one of the bank's buildings in Midtown Manhattan to discuss changes in the mergers and acquisitions group, according to people who received invitations to the meeting.

Steven Baronoff and Patrick Ramsey, Heads of Global Mergers and Acquisitions, were also present at the meeting with Ahmed.

The participants said the executives promised in the meeting that the bank is fully committed to improving its position in the competitive rankings of the banking industry. These ratings evaluate banks, law firms, analysts and other Wall Street players based on trading volume and fees received.

Bank of America's goal is to reach the top of these lists, and the bank plans to increase hiring of senior bankers, particularly in technology, according to one of the attendees.

In this regard, the spokesperson of the bank said that all investment banking groups regularly hold weekly meetings to review current issues and market conditions.

Bank of America's head of global corporate and investment banking, Matthew Coder, echoed the same message in an internal memo in August. In the first half of this year, this bank registered its second historical record in terms of investment banking fees. Also, advisory fees and issuance of debt securities reached their highest level since 2009 in the first half of the year.

"We continue to invest in attracting top talent at all levels and are pleased to have more than 40 new executive directors join our corporate and investment banking this year," Kuder wrote in the note.

The bank's senior hires this year have included veteran technology bankers Jason Rowe, Gary Kirkham and Richard Hardgery. Bryce Deakin is also set to join the bank later this year. Bank of America also hired George Murphy as industrials and Alban de la Sableliere as vice president of healthcare transactions in the EMEA region.

The spokesperson of the bank emphasized that the number of senior managers recruited was more than the number of people who left the bank.

Concerns about salaries and rewards; A factor in the exit of bankers

Despite management's efforts to maintain staff, some bankers told Reuters they were worried about the reduction in the number of bankers responsible for covering clients in New York. These people are responsible for managing relationships with specific companies and have extensive connections with large American companies.

According to these bankers, some of the new hires have focused on the development of regional investment banking; An approach led by Mike Joe, one of the bank's former chief executives who left in August.

Another issue that has caused the dissatisfaction of some employees is the salary and bonus structure of the bank. Bank of America's rewards system in some cases allocates a larger share of traders' earnings to late payments, several people familiar with the matter told Reuters. An issue that gives competitors such as JPMorgan and Citigroup the opportunity to attract bankers from this institution.

One of the people familiar with the matter acknowledged that bonus rules could be difficult for some bankers, especially those who are buying a home or paying for school fees. However, he said the compensation structure is usually not a determining factor in hiring senior executives.

Senior bank managers deny the decline in employee morale. Strong earnings, participation in large deals and aggressive hiring have helped maintain a positive atmosphere at the bank, they said. Among the mentioned transactions is the purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance, in which Bank of America acted as a consultant.

The bank's spokesperson concluded: "Our employees will benefit from the addition of new capable colleagues, our investments in technology and the momentum we have gained from playing key roles in landmark and large deals."