Bank of America management prevails despite protests

The Bank of America annual meeting was largely a success for management.

It prevailed on all shareholder resolutions by convincing margins. According to the Charlotte Business Journal, management's compensation plan was approved with 92 percent of shares cast in favor of it. All management-proposed director candidates were voted in with little opposition. A shareholder proposal to provide third-party audits of mortgage servicing operations was rejected, with 85 percent voting against it. A proposal to offer more disclosure about lobbying activity fared better was rejected, though it did win 30 percent of the vote. Proposals to limit the bank's political spending, requirements that executives retain more stock, and disclosures about employee conflicts of interest all failed.

The meeting was also a success in that the bank was able to successfully give shareholders a chance to air their views, even though the results weren't necessarily flattering. No one wants to be called the "worst of the worst" in print. Media outlets predictably focused on the media-genic controversy playing out as investors offered their acerbic commentary and questions directly to the CEO.

In the end, management ended up with a few minor scraps but no real wounds. The 40 percent gain it has registered this year no doubt helped, but the second half of 2012 is starting to cloud up just a bit. I can only hope the revenue trends can hold up.

For more:
- here's the article
- here's a look at the protests by msnbc

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