In the short 18 months Brian Moynihan has been in charge of Bank of America he has been a fiercely surprising financial divine wind. He settled anti-discrimination charges for pennies on the dollar. He settled SEC fraud charges for pennies on the dollar. And in both cases he deftly avoided criminal charges and not having to admit wrongdoing. Great victories and he has preserved face. I just had this thought while I was in the dojo and I had to share it with you. And it was about Bank of America. I don't think there is any question in anyone's mind, that Ken Lewis who built the behemoth that is Bank of America today was a grand master of the martial art of modern finance. I mean you look at Bank of America when Ken Lewis took his final massive bonus and waived goodbye. It was the largest single financial American institution in terms of assets. As well as the largest in terms of Bank Deposits, and of course the largest in terms of taxpayer bailouts... Ken Lewis' ambition makes him Sensei master, indeed... And for a good part of the time he was building that empire Brian Moynihan was his youthful apprentice, on the legal side of things for BofA. This required of the grasshopper great diligence and steadfast focus. And people had questions whether Brian could ever achieve in ambition the level of Master Lewis. I myself, had doubts. But in the short 18 months Brian has been in charge of Bank of America he has been a fiercely surprising financial divine wind. He settled anti-discrimination charges for pennies on the dollar. He settled SEC fraud charges for pennies on the dollar. And in both cases he deftly avoided criminal charges and not having to admit wrongdoing. Great victories and he has preserved face. But the moment that was most revealing about Brian Moynihan's capacity for ambition was when he proposed to charge his customers $5 a month just to hold one of his debit cards. The student has become the master. Namaste.

• published: 19 Mar 2012
• views: 498