Bank of America CEO Says Public Anger At Banks Is 'Understandable'

DAVOS, Switzerland -- The head of one of the U.S.' largest banks Wednesday said that public anger at financial institutions has been “understandable” and acknowledged that Americans remain concerned about whether public policymakers have adequately protected the country from another financial crisis. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan made the comments at a forum at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and he later told International Business Times that he believes financial regulatory reforms passed in the wake of the 2008 bank crisis should be implemented by Congress.

During a panel discussion with the heads of HSBC and Deutsche Bank, Moynihan was asked whether he believed government regulators are unduly bashing banks. He responded by acknowledging that financial institutions were a primary driver of the economic crisis.

“There was such a deep recession, and the anger of the world reflected to the financial system related to that even though there was a lot more causes,” he said. “But since we were the transmitters of it, and helping it go on, that is understandable ... What [regulators and banks] both need to do is keep the public confident that we are going to fix it and not let it get unfixed.”

In an IBTimes interview after the public forum in Davos, Moynihan was asked about Republican efforts to roll back key features of the Dodd-Frank legislation that was passed after the 2008 financial crisis. He said he would like to see those tougher regulations implemented to bring more predictability to the financial system.

“People are still concerned about whether reforms of financial institutions have been sufficient enough to protect us from another crisis,” Moynihan said. Referring to the Dodd-Frank bill, he said: "The number one thing is we’ve actually got to get what’s there fully implemented, and we haven’t yet done that ... There will be technical changes to [the reforms] that will go on, but I think the basic premise of it, and we’re still in the middle of implementing it, what we’ve got to do is finish implementing that.”