(Reuters) -Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan on Wednesday reiterated his expectation of a soft landing for the U.S. economy, saying the lender was seeing a slowdown in consumer spending.
Here are some excerpts from his interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York:
SOFT LANDING EXPECTATIONS
“Our research team is the best in the business. They have moved to the soft landing category. They have a slowdown in the economy in the middle of next year.”
RATE HIKE EXPECTATIONS
“You’re seeing a precipitous slowdown in consumer spending… Financial conditions have tightened. Loans are more expensive so people aren’t borrowing as much. Mortgage rates have moved up and the housing market has slowed down.”
“We have one more rate increase, whether that happens or not. And then starting to bring them down in the second half of next year.”
ON INFLATION COMING BACK TO 2% RANGE
“It takes to the end of ’25 to get inflation down to the low twos level.”
ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) ISSUES
“On a given day, we are criticized for being a large lender to energy companies. On the same day, we are criticized for being a large renewable lender. So you gotta have it right if everybody doesn’t like you.”
ON SUCCESSION
“We have a succession planning exercise … nothing is left to chance here, when I decide or the board decides that my time is up we will activate that plan.”
ON DEALING WITH POTENTIAL CYBERSECURITY THREATS
“You keep dedicating more resources. You cooperate heavily among the industry and with the government.”
“The real value is, over the last 10 years, the administration cooperation with the private sector has been much increased. That’s helpful because the information can flow faster and we can defend ourselves better.”
To view the live broadcast of the World Stage go to the Reuters NEXT news page: https://www.reuters.com/world/reuters-next/
(Reporting by Niket Nishant, Manya Saini in Bengaluru and Lananh Nguyen in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
