Transcript: Brian Moynihan on "Face the Nation," March 15, 2020
The following is a transcript of an interview with Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan that aired Sunday, March 15, 2020, on "Face the Nation."
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we're back with the head of America's second largest bank, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan. Good to have you here.
BANK OF AMERICA CEO BRIAN MOYNIHAN: Great to be here, MARGARET.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You run one of the biggest banks in the country. You met with the president this week. This has been a swift change in Americans' lives. Are we on the brink of a financial crisis?
MOYNIHAN: Well, I think let's step back and think about what we have here. Number one, this is a healthcare crisis and a humanitarian crisis. And we can't forget that we have to take care of people and handle that first. And by the way, that's the answer to the large- larger question. And I think I'd think about three things. This is a war. We're in a war to contain this virus. The interesting thing is everybody has the same common enemy across the whole world. So the question of how we do that as employers, as private sector, public sector, everybody is key. And so we have to drive that. The second thing going to your question of banking industry is big bank industry comes in with capital liquidity that is so different than the last crisis. The question is we have to use it wisely. And we have to manage the companies well in times of stress. And this is a quick change from what was going on as a solidly growing economy. And the third thing is as a company, we have to take care of our own. So our teammates and our customers and clients, we have to continue to provide the services we do. We have 4,300 branches open every day. The markets are trading every day. The wires have trillions of dollars moving through the system every day, are going on. But at the same time as an employer, we have to take precautions to meet our part of the war, which is to get our teammates socially distanced, to go back to central operations to make sure we work. So it's those three key points. And you can't forget that this is a healthcare crisis, and we care that, the economic issues will go away quickly.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And- and it's that uncertainty of not knowing when and where that is- is weighing on everyone so much. You said your bank is going to treat this like a natural disaster and help consumers. What specifically does that mean? If someone can't make their mortgage payment or pay their credit card, what are you doing for them?
MOYNIHAN: They call the number on the card and they say, I'm affected by the disease, and I can't make my payment. We defer the payment. We've done it. We did it for the employee- government employees that were shut down. We've done it for every natural disaster. But we're not alone as a company. The whole industry does this. This is what we do. And then with small businesses and others, when they have, you know, issues in terms of cash flow, they come to us and we help work through it. So the idea is you don't want people to be penalized, much like the bill in Congress is trying to take care- if you think about you're in a war and you have to deal with the people who are going to fall out of that, and the question is, the people in Congress, as Larry was just talking about, they're trying to deal with it more systematically. Healthcare or health leave benefits, unemployment benefits. We're trying to deal with the other side, which is I can't make my payment. Call us, and we'll make it right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And then the consumers are the engine of this economy.
MOYNIHAN: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: People are scared.
MOYNIHAN: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: They're not just looking at the market. When they're told to go home,--
MOYNIHAN: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: --when they can't get food at the grocery store, when they don't know when their next paycheck is coming, how is it that you can be confident the economy is going to come back when we don't know when this is going to end? We don't know how many jobs are going to be lost.
MOYNIHAN: Well there's some interesting things to think about. One is what's really going on as of today. So we see the data of consumer spending and- on things and goods and services and we watch it every day. And the aggregate number year over year is still up 10 percent plus--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Now.
MOYNIHAN: Today.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But people are just now social distancing.
MOYNIHAN: Right and so- so what you're gonna say is what happens next?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
MOYNIHAN: And obviously travel, the cruise industry, movies, things like that are- are, you know, changing dramatically. Restaurants, you're hearing the reports of that. So that- that's all in front of us. But right now, it hasn't had the impact people think. And so that's the question. But if you asked yourself, what are we trying to do? You heard Dr. Fauci talk about sort of flattening the curve.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
MOYNIHAN: It's the inverse of that for us as bank- the banking system, we're trying to make sure the trough stays as high as it can. That it doesn't go down as much that--
MARGARET BRENNAN: But other banks are predicting a recession. That's two quarters--
MOYNIHAN: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Of decline.
MOYNIHAN: Right. And I think, you know, our- our experts who are the leading research firm in the world. You know, it's basically a 1.2 for the US. Now, that'll be a tale of four quarters that are different--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Economic growth.
MOYNIHAN: You'll have growth in the first quarter then it'll go down, you know, maybe flat. But although they've gone from 1.7 percent to 1.2 percent, so they've come down. But they're saying it recovers given the health care crisis being solved. But one- and one of the things we look at is what's happening in China. We talk to our clients in China, and we had teammates in China, in Hong Kong and places like that. This was an issue in January of social distancing and separation. 80 percent of employees are back to work
MARGARET BRENNAN: The factories are- are- we see propaganda photos. You're saying it's real? China is going back to work?
MOYNIHAN: I- I'm talking about clients of ours who employ, have factories in China are back 60, 70, 80 percent, which is good news because the supply chain of goods is there. The question then, is will the demand--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
MOYNIHAN: --in the United States and Europe be there? And that's coming down to solving the healthcare crisis.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And that all matters because that's the second largest economy in the world. It is huge to how our- our global economy functions. The Federal Reserve, the president said yesterday he wants more action to be taken.
MOYNIHAN: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: What do you expect to happen? What needs to happen to stabilize the markets because they are--
MOYNIHAN: So, I think--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --under such pressure?
MOYNIHAN: --they need to provide- provide liquidity and- and continuous liquidity, and so in these situations, that's what dries up. People back up and- and- and the liquidity dries up. So, the Treasury markets, again, they've started- they've done major things there. Other government guarantee markets, the money funds, potentially commercial paper. There's a lot of things that are on the table. The central banks around the world have to both provide monetary help, accommodation help, rates, they drop rates 50 basis points. The package of things to do are all known. And the question is doing it at the appropriate time, and more importantly, all the central banks around the world to have the same impact. Meanwhile, we've got to solve the healthcare crisis.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Very, very quickly, what Larry Kudlow was talking about was providing help potentially to the airlines. Does that need to happen? Does there need to be some version of a bailout?
MOYNIHAN: I think in a time of- you know, a time of war against this virus, if industries are affected in a way that are strategic industries, we ought to help them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Thank you very much. We'll be right back with a look at how the coronavirus is impacting the travel industry.
