Bank of America Friends Again Commercial
A 'Friend of Tom' or 'Can't Be Bothered': One Man's Rules at Bank of America
Thomas G. Montag, the banking company's No. 2 executive, has long run its markets and corporate banking segmentation with favoritism and an atomic number 26 fist, employees say.
Credit... Benjamin Norman for The New York Times
Early in the pandemic, Bank of America found an innovative fashion to gauge the success of the bank'southward work-from-dwelling experiment: a spreadsheet, distributed to squad managers daily, that pitted the productivity of people working from home confronting those who were still showing up at the office.
Created for Thomas K. Montag, the depository financial institution's No. ii executive, the spreadsheet, equally described past two people with knowledge of information technology and co-ordinate to images reviewed by The New York Times, listed markets employees in descending society of their profitability each solar day, with those working from the office on ane side and those working from abode on the other. The bear witness on which work environment yielded amend results was mixed, those people said, only the message that the spreadsheet sent was not: Mr. Montag, Bank of America's master operating officer, was keeping score.
Mr. Montag oversees near 17,000 people in Bank of America's global banking and markets division — and the people who work for him have learned to speak his unique cultural language. During the pandemic, workers of his who showed upwards at the role called themselves "warriors." Those who stayed home were referred to as "tapped out," like defeated cage fighters. "Friends of Tom," every bit his favored employees were widely but unofficially known, got bonuses, promotions and admission to the boss. Others were marked for pay reductions on something referred to as the "can't be bothered" list.
Mr. Montag, 64, is the second-most-powerful person at Bank of America later on Brian Moynihan, the main executive and, at $19 million in bounty concluding year, the second-best paid. Equally the globe confronted the pandemic last jump, Mr. Montag initially pressured markets workers to proceed showing up at the office despite stay-at-home orders that drove many other banking employees away, electric current and recently departed Bank of America employees said. Some of Mr. Montag'due south workers grew fearful that if they didn't go into the office, they would lose their jobs or their bonuses.
In a Feb interview from the depository financial institution's Midtown Manhattan tower, Mr. Montag said he was worried about the marketplace turmoil in the early days of the pandemic and went to the office every 24-hour interval. "I was the battlefront for us in a manner," he explained.
The wartime reference is 1 indication that Mr. Montag is a vestige of a Wall Street that has generally vanished. Over the dozen years that Mr. Montag has been an executive at Bank of America, his hard-driving approach has been increasingly out of step with the contemporary world of finance.
Today's leaders try to portray themselves as searching and vulnerable, emphasizing their humane sides and talking up the thought that they tin can do expert while raking in profits. Contest for talent with individual-equity firms and Silicon Valley has forced banks to rethink their demands of young workers, although grueling hours — which recently drove junior bankers at Goldman Sachs to confront their managers — persist. The forced adaptation to working from home has raised nettlesome questions nearly whether the fiscal globe, historically ane where long hours and performative masochism have been celebrated, volition sally from the pandemic with a more compassionate approach.
Colleagues describe Mr. Montag every bit shrewd and charismatic — qualities he deployed to aid transform Banking concern of America into a corporate lending and trading powerhouse later its merger in 2008 with Merrill Lynch. Simply some say his management fashion is enervating and erratic. His is a earth where certain people are primed for major leadership roles, while others are jettisoned for seemingly pocket-sized offenses. He likes m displays of dedication and plays favorites, polarizing employees.
"Tom demanded excellence," said Robert Grillo, who was a managing director in the bond division of Bank of America from 2009 to 2016. "He was very motivational in speaking. He had an incredible piece of work ethic. Just his favoring of sure groups, and people, I think, was detrimental to the total culture."
When the pandemic began, Goldman Sachs speedily sent traders domicile, equipping them with the tools they needed. Citigroup looked for office space in the suburbs to accommodate employees who lived at that place and wanted to avoid commuting for fright of infection. Morgan Stanley'south chief executive, James Gorman, defenseless the coronavirus and stayed away from the office.
Mr. Montag was slower to embrace remote work, and the results were attrition and flagging morale. Since the get-go of this year, at to the lowest degree xi senior markets employees, including several traders and some department heads, have left Mr. Montag's divisions, along with the chair of global corporate and investment banking. More than 100 employees took layoff packages as a style to get out while keeping their stock, said a person familiar with the figures. Some departing employees took new jobs or were pushed out. Many said they left over frustration with the civilization, which the pandemic made less tolerable.
This account of Mr. Montag'south tenure at Bank of America, and the civilization he has fostered, is based on interviews with more than two dozen electric current and former employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fearfulness of losing their jobs or alienating business organization assembly. Unlike some rivals, who have implemented compulsory return-to-part plans for June or July, Bank of America has nevertheless to specify when it volition enquire employees who are still working remotely to return to the function, saying only that information technology will be sometime afterwards Labor Day. The bank, more than 200,000 people stiff, continues to churn out profits; its first-quarter earnings report reflected solid gains in Mr. Montag's divisions.
These days, the general mood among employees is one of resignation, co-ordinate to people who yet work there. The biggest question at present may be whether Mr. Montag's professional future will exist affected by his handling of the pandemic — and the answer may reveal a lot most whether Bank of America, or Wall Street itself, is set up for change.
The civilization that fabricated Montag
Built-in and raised in Portland, Ore., Mr. Montag started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1985, when a fraternity of powerful men ruled Wall Street, taking wild market risks and putting young hires through a armed forces-style hazing process memorably depicted in Michael Lewis's "Liar'south Poker."
A former offensive tackle for the high school football game squad, whose offset job involved knocking on borrowers' doors at nighttime to enquire them to repay loans, Mr. Montag worked at a trading desk at Goldman that specialized in complex products known as swaps. His attention to detail distinguished him, said colleagues from that time, equally did his hiring and mentorship of younger people, some of whom help run the firm today.
In 2008, Mr. Montag joined the brokerage firm Merrill Lynch to run its markets partition. Merely weeks subsequently his inflow, the fiscal crisis hit, and Banking concern of America, a staid institution known for its consumer concern, bought Merrill, known for its aggressive civilisation. The job of integration fell to Mr. Montag, who before long became caput of both global banking and markets.
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"The early on days were certainly rocky, but he made it piece of work," recalled Anne Finucane, Bank of America'due south vice chairman.
Mr. Montag's divisions blossomed. Today, Banking concern of America is 2nd but to JPMorgan past avails in the U.Southward. It touches one out of every ii American households through its sprawling consumer operations. Its corporate banking and trading units serve companies like Bayer, Salesforce and AT&T.
Those achievements were an outgrowth of Mr. Montag's tillage of big clients and knack for spotting unfolding concern opportunities. But those talents were intertwined with a mode and set of expectations that some employees found unreasonable. On Friday afternoons over the years, after the markets had closed, Mr. Montag sometimes sought out floor managers at their desks, current and onetime employees said, leaving Mail service-information technology notes scrawled with the words, "Where are you lot?" if they weren't around.
When Karen Fang, a senior bail production saleswoman, attended a meeting in Rome in 2013 right later on her wedding, Mr. Montag gave her a Lucite trophy for her dedication, attendees said. (Ms. Fang said that she had always planned a honeymoon for a afterward indicate.) In 2014, he established what he called the "tin can't exist bothered" list, an annual roster of employees whose bonuses would be docked considering they did not carry out administrative tasks such as participating in colleague operation reviews.
If expectations over hours and certain duties were clear enough, some of Mr. Montag'south other directives were not. At meetings to hash out employee pay, Mr. Montag would occasionally trim pocket-size amounts, like $25,000 or $50,000, from bonuses of close to a million dollars, coming together attendees recalled, for reasons that weren't clear to them. But other employees received bonus hikes at the last infinitesimal, those people said, earning the nickname "FOT," or friend of Tom.
Megan Tobias Neely, an banana professor of arrangement at the Copenhagen Business organization School, said that in her research on financial firms she frequently encounters cultures based around a unmarried, ascendant personality. People who conform to the behaviors upheld by the leader "are rewarded with all kinds of opportunities and advocacy," she said.
"But not everybody can," she continued, "because not everybody will fit in or feel like they're comfy in that blazon of environs."
To those who fell in line, Mr. Montag was a supportive and inspiring dominate, current and erstwhile employees said. "Tom really cares about people in an quondam schoolhouse way that'southward not typical in today's corporate world," said Cistron Reilly, a hedge-fund managing director who worked for him as Depository financial institution of America's global caput of quantitative trading in the early 2010s. "Whether a colleague needs centre surgery or someone's parent is dying in the hospital, Tom makes the phone phone call and helps anyway he can."
Mr. Montag denied playing favorites.
"At that place'southward obviously no friends-of-Tom list," he said in February. "Certainly there'due south people that I think are good, that I recall represent the business firm well, that have worked very well together." He added, "and then I promote them, or aid them, or work with them well."
Promoting women, patronizing women
Several years ago, Mr. Montag launched a sabbatical programme for employees at the bank for 10 years or more than that has been especially popular with women. He as well promoted women to senior positions, including Wei Wang, who oversees the depository financial institution'southward concern in China, and Orly Avidan, a veteran trader and client liaison whom he named head of stock sales late final year. "I think it's incredibly helpful to have a champion like Tom," Ms. Avidan said.
Only during the past five years, as the broader civilization became more attuned to misogyny and sexual harassment, Bank of America had its own reckoning with some of those issues. During some of those years, Mr. Montag'due south divisions confidentially settled well-nigh 15 complaints annually with employees who made apparent allegations of misconduct or of working in a toxic surround, according to someone who was direct involved in treatment those matters. Some of those complaints alleged gender-based harassment or bigotry.
Such accusations are non uncommon on Wall Street. Just fifteen apparent complaints per year is high, said people with directly knowledge of those matters at two competing banks during the same menstruum; the number of such complaints in the markets and corporate banking divisions of their banks, those people said, was well under x.
A spokeswoman for Bank of America, Jessica Oppenheim, chosen 15 confidential settlements per year over alleged misconduct "grossly inaccurate." She would not elaborate, adding, "there is no basis to say that Banking concern of America has more of these problems than competitors or other big corporations." She said the depository financial institution pays women deservedly, and that its female employees report higher task-satisfaction levels than male workers practice.
Just current and quondam employees said the civilization Mr. Montag built also immune women to be objectified. In addition, the success of employees in his divisions also depended to a disproportionate degree on whether Mr. Montag favored them, and as a result, professional concerns well-nigh his protégés were sometimes disregarded.
One case report in the complicated matrix of performance and personal regard that informed Mr. Montag's decisions was Sanaz Zaimi, current and former employees said.
Ms. Zaimi was hired by Mr. Montag from Goldman to help lead global bail sales and certain stock products in 2009. In 2016, she became the sole head of bond sales, and in 2019, she was named chief executive of the bank'south newly established European brokerage arm in Paris. Within the bank, Ms. Zaimi was widely regarded equally bright and capable in her surface area of expertise, which was structuring circuitous products for clients. But she could also be unfiltered and harsh with employees, past and current colleagues said.
In almanac meetings with Mr. Moynihan, the bank'due south primary executive, to discuss rising stars, Mr. Montag regularly pitched Ms. Zaimi for additional roles, said a person with directly knowledge of past meetings. However, poor feedback from Ms. Zaimi'due south employees and peers over her direction style made her a long-shot for them, this person added.
Prototype
Ms. Zaimi seemed to exist aware of her state of affairs. She would occasionally say to colleagues that although she oft scored in the lesser quartile of the business firm's annual 360-degree employee reviews — which incorporated feedback from subordinates, peers and superiors — Mr. Montag had told her it didn't thing, according to 2 people to whom she made the comments. She besides noted that if Mr. Montag were ever to leave the banking concern, she would exit the very aforementioned 24-hour interval, those people added. Ms. Zaimi declined to annotate.
Ms. Zaimi, now 51, is still with the bank. Some other women are not. And the reasons for their departures, they told colleagues, were rooted in the trouble they had trying to succeed in Mr. Montag'due south idiosyncratic and at times male-dominated culture.
In 2017, a junior adult female on one of the bond-trading desks complained later on male colleagues grabbed a plastic crimper iron out of her pocketbook and joked that information technology was a dildo, according to a complaint described to The Times and iii people with knowledge of the episode. The adult female, who had occasional, informal interactions on the trading floor with Mr. Montag just was multiple levels subordinate to him, was granted a settlement, the people said. She declined to annotate. Ms. Oppenheim, the bank spokeswoman, said Banking company of America doesn't tolerate discrimination and that whatsoever allegations of information technology are thoroughly investigated and met with disciplinary deportment where appropriate.
In 2016, a bond trading manager named Megan Messina — who was in Mr. Montag's markets division but had only occasional contact with him — sued Bank of America, accusing it of pay disparities and calling the group she had worked in a "bro'south society."
"Beneath the veneer of a globe-form financial establishment, B of A treats their female managing directors as 2nd-class citizens," her complaint said. Ms. Messina, it added, "is no exception. Every year throughout the liability period in this case, Messina has earned essentially less than similarly situated males solely considering she is a adult female."
Ms. Messina's suit was settled later on that twelvemonth. The terms were not disclosed.
Pandemic pressures
When the pandemic started, Mr. Montag initially urged workers to proceed coming into the office. He began cycling to work every day in jeans and sneakers, instead of showing up in his usual coat and tie. Once there, he thanked those who were nowadays, and sometimes emailed others who were working remotely to "come up to my office," current and quondam employees said — which some recipients interpreted as a thinly veiled demand that they return.
"Our backup system was in Stamford," he said in the Feb interview, referring to the city in Connecticut where the bank directed some workers. "It wasn't in your bedroom."
Prototype
Officially, the bank told trading-flooring employees that, first in late March, they could work from home. Merely in smaller group phone calls and individual conversations, a different message was conveyed past markets-division overseers, said current and recently departed employees — including from a senior human-resource representative.
Concluding spring, equally the pandemic raged through New York, Alexandria Taylor, who runs human resources for the banking and markets divisions, held a phone call with some trading floor managers and suggested they cajole their team members dorsum to the office, said iii people with knowledge of the calls. Other senior executives placed similar calls, but Ms. Taylor'south bulletin carried weight because of her role as a representative of employee welfare and her rapport with Mr. Montag, current and recently departed employees said.
Ms. Taylor does not study to Mr. Montag. But the rapport between them has been a source of consternation for years, said current and former employees, because it meant ane of the people best situated to correct the problems in Mr. Montag's culture was also unusually close with him in ways that drew notice.
The 2 collaborated frequently on employee matters, and Ms. Taylor eventually moved her desk to a spot right outside Mr. Montag's office. At one bespeak, the executives fifty-fifty embarked on a low-sugar, high-fat keto diet together, according to two people who discussed it with Ms. Taylor at the time. They were and so at ease around each other that at 1 betoken last November she openly scratched or rubbed Mr. Montag's back on the trading floor, according to three people who witnessed the interaction. Ms. Taylor said in a statement that "these items are inaccurate."
During the pandemic, the productivity spreadsheet, titled "Tom/Dashboard," according to an image of information technology, allowed Mr. Montag to track individual profits and losses of employees working at domicile versus those yet in the office, co-ordinate to that and other images and two people with knowledge of the spreadsheets. In the part, said i of those employees, Mr. Montag would sometimes popular past individual desks and say, "I knew you lot'd exist hither."
Final summer, later on news reports about their work-from-home policies, the bank took a more accommodating stance, current and former employees said. By fall, the spreadsheet had vanished from apportionment, two of those people said.
"I practice believe, long term, that it's better culturally to know people and see them and be around them some," Mr. Montag said in Feb. "Physical presence is practiced."
It'southward unclear how long Mr. Montag will be present himself. In Feb, he said that given his age, at some point "they're going to kick me out of here." And in a annotation to some employees last July, he appeared sanguine about his career. "I came to New York to brand a few dollars, get back to Oregon, and buy a house," he wrote. "Everything else has been gravy."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/business/bank-of-america-tom-montag.html
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