During the opening days of August, Bank of America's senior leadership found itself navigating a notable difficulty. Amy Lissauer, a longtime banker who held one of the organisation's top-tier roles, was weighing a departure to competitor JPMorgan Chase, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Retention efforts directed at Lissauer by CEO Brian Moynihan and global investment banking co-head Faiz Ahmad did not produce the outcome they had sought, people with knowledge of the situation said. When that banker's departure — one with a track record of completing deals — landed against a backdrop of similar exits over the prior year, enough unease spread through the organisation that its leadership moved to address the situation directly, people familiar with the matter said.
Personnel shifts among senior dealmakers are a recurring feature of the financial industry, with established figures periodically moving on from their institutions. Three departures confirmed during the week of August 5 were among the exits that moved BofA leadership to contact employees in an effort to head off any broader unsettlement within the ranks.
The episode highlighted anxieties among bank leadership that an ongoing exodus of top dealmakers during a period of active capital-markets activity could weigh on staff confidence and deepen the impression that the country's second-largest bank had fallen behind peers in investment banking, according to people with knowledge of the discussions — a concern the bank itself pushed back against, with a spokesperson pointing to dozens of senior hires drawn from competing firms that past year as evidence of platform strength, while bankers at other Wall Street institutions have described BofA's deal-making teams as capable rivals in the competition for mergers and client mandates.
According to Dealogic, a data and analytics provider, the bank holds fourth place on the firm's global league table for investment banking fees across 2025 and 2026, a position reflecting how Morgan Stanley's rise — driven by growth in artificial intelligence — pushed it ahead of BofA into third. Dealogic data show that across 2022, 2023, and 2024, the third-place position in that ranking — sitting between JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs on one side and Morgan Stanley on the other — was held by Bank of America each year.
Toward the end of 2025, Kevin Brunner — a dealmaker in the technology sector whose relationship with software firm Salesforce had been a defining feature of his more than 25 years at the bank — announced a move to JPMorgan. Fishman, who spent 16 years at Bank of America holding a co-leadership post over its technology, media, and telecom division, is set to move to JPMorgan before the year closes.
During the same week Lissauer's exit took place, two other departures followed — Mike Joo, who held a co-head position over global investment banking, and tech banker Ed Liu each moved on as well. The notice her exit attracted owed much to a track record built around advising corporate clients on strategies for resisting pressure campaigns mounted by activist investors seeking shifts in leadership and organisational direction.
JPMorgan Chase moved quickly to put out a public statement, with the bank's leadership having reportedly kept her in its sights as a prospective addition to its ranks for some time. Retaining Lissauer ranked among BofA's top internal priorities, yet the compensation offer she received from JPMorgan landed at a figure the bank determined it was not in a position to meet.
News of multiple departures beginning in early August had begun circulating internally when Ahmad — at that point sharing the co-head of investment banking role with Joo before stepping away himself — convened an in-person gathering on 10 August to address staff concerns, according to people who received invitations to that meeting. Upward of 50 staff members — a group that spanned vice presidents and directors — were called into a conference room at the bank's Midtown Manhattan offices to take part in talks about restructuring within the mergers and acquisitions division.
Among the banking figures present at the gathering were Steven Baronoff and Patrick Ramsey, both holding chairmanships within the global mergers and acquisitions division, who attended alongside Ahmad. People who attended the gathering reported that bank leadership outlined plans to climb higher in the industry rankings.
According to an anonymous source, Bank of America has set its sights on climbing the investment banking rankings, with the institution bringing aboard additional experienced bankers — particularly within the technology sector. A bank representative noted that all investment banking teams hold regular weekly gatherings to review current topics and prevailing market conditions.
In an internal communication distributed in August, Matthew Koder — who leads BofA's global corporate and investment banking division — noted that the bank's investment banking fee revenue for the first half of the year ranked among the two highest totals the institution had recorded. Combining advisory work and debt issuance, fees generated in the opening six months outpaced every comparable half-year period stretching back to 2009.
In a memo obtained by a news outlet, Koder stated that the corporate and investment bank had brought more than 40 new managing directors on board during the year, describing the appointments as part of an ongoing commitment to building talent across all levels of the organisation. Among the technology banking professionals brought on board during the current calendar year are Jason Rowe, Gary Kirkham, and Richard Hardegree — each carrying long track records in that sector — alongside Bryce Dakin, whose start date is set for later in the year.
Two new additions joined the bank's roster — industrials banker George Murphy and Alban de La Sabliere, who took on a vice-chair role covering healthcare dealmaking across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa — while a spokesperson for BofA noted that appointments at the senior managing director level had outpaced the number of exits. Those managing client relationships with corporate America from New York-based coverage desks were becoming fewer in number, a trend that drew concern from within the banking industry.
A regional investment banking build-out had drawn much of that hiring activity, a push overseen by Mike Joo, who departed the firm in August. Competitors such as JPMorgan and Citigroup have been making overtures to investment banking personnel at Bank of America, a pattern that several people familiar with the situation traced back to a compensation structure at the firm that channels a greater share of pay into deferred arrangements when particular thresholds are met.
Those close to the matter noted that pay structures tied to deferred bonuses can place genuine strain on bankers carrying heavy personal financial commitments, though such arrangements rarely drive the decisions of candidates being recruited into senior roles. Analysts point to healthy revenue figures, a role advising on the Skydance-Paramount deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, and ongoing recruitment as underpinning a positive near-term outlook, while a Bank of America spokesperson noted that staff are experiencing the advantages of newly joined talent, technology investment, and the bank's positioning at the centre of prominent transactions.
