With the Federal Reserve expected to resume interest rate cuts when it wraps up its Federal Open Market Committee today, the central bank needs to keep an eye on changes in inflation when making future rate decisions, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan said Wednesday in a broadcast interview.
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said consumer-level inflation, picked up in August, rising 2.9% Y/Y vs. +2.7% in July. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the consumer price index rose 3.1% Y/Y, in line with the prior month’s increase. Both remain well above the Fed’s 2% inflation goal. The Fed’s usual response to rising inflation is to raise interest rates to push down demand in the economy.
“The Fed has to adjust to the inflation picture,” Moynihan said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “They came down 100 basis points already, and they can keep coming down. But they’ve got to be very mindful of the inflation side.”
The central bank cut its benchmark policy rate by 100 bps from September to December 2024, but has held the rate at 4.25%-4.50% since the start of 2025. President Donald Trump has been urging the Fed to make big cuts to make borrowing costs cheaper for the U.S. government.
Moynihan also discussed the purpose of the company’s move last week to promote a number of executives into leadership positions. Among them, Dean Athanasia, the bank’s regional banking president, and trading head Jim DeMare were named co-presidents of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). At the same time, Alastair Borthwick added the title of executive vice president in addition to his current chief financial officer role.
Those three were elevated to help Moynihan in corporate wide initiatives, including growth work streams, operational excellence, and AI, he said.
“It also frees up space” for talent that “continues to drive” the company’s eight operational businesses, he said.
In the long term, management has the duty to provide a series of candidates to eventually run the company, but succession isn’t likely to occur soon. “I’m not going anywhere in the short term, in the medium term,” he said.
“The reality is we’re a team, and we’re driving forward. There’s a lot of talented teammates, and the board will have to make a decision someday,” he added.