London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jan 29, 2026

Bank of America boss commits to UK, despite recent political and economic turmoil

Bank of America boss commits to UK, despite recent political and economic turmoil

The bank's chief executive Brian Moynihan dismisses suggestions that he will not invest if UK corporation tax is raised.

The chairman and chief executive of one of the world's biggest banks says he is "committed to the UK", despite recent political and economic turmoil.

Brian Moynihan, of Bank of America, also told Sky News that he is not concerned about the prospect of an increase in corporation tax, adding: "We don't live or die by our tax rate."

Mr Moynihan said of the UK's recent political turbulence: "We don't get too wound-up about [elections].

"It's always something in the moment, but it's a population's job to elect officials and our job to manage our company given those elections.

"I think the UK is one of the leading economies and leading countries in the world and is a bastion of stability in general sense.

"And we've got to go through a midterm election in the US, we've got to get to the other side of that, and then stability can settle in.

"So we always say our company's been around for 230-plus years, we've been through a lot of elections, and our job is just to manage through them."

Bank of America is the second-largest bank in America with a market capitalisation of nearly $300bn (making it roughly 10 times bigger than Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest, and more than three times bigger than HSBC).

It has about 5,000 employees in the UK, mainly in London but also Chester and Bromley.

Mr Moynihan - one of the longest-serving Wall Street chief executives - has been leading Bank of America since 2010 over which time the share price has returned 175%.

He addressed the very difficult economic challenge that the new UK prime minister faces, but was not too upset at the prospect of the UK corporation tax rate rising instead of falling, as had been planned by Rishi Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss.

"I think governments have to get a balance between taxation of corporations, individuals and what they spend the money on - and that's a long-term problem for all governments," he said.

"People shouldn't be bidding for people's business on tax rates, because ultimately, that leads to things which get a little out of skew.

"So I think the key is to have a consistent rate where people can invest across long periods of time, that's fair to the companies and fair to the people they employ and fair to the business they generate, and tax revenues they generate, and then also fair to the citizens, so the governments can do what they need to do.

"I think those things settle over time, they go up and they go down.

"And you know, we don't live or die by our tax rate, we live or die by having great customers doing great things with them - generate a lot of revenue, keep expenses in check, generate a lot of pre-tax income, and then we'll figure out what the taxing authorities do."

Corporation tax in the United States is 21% (with some surcharges depending state), which was lowered by president Donald Trump from 35% in 2018.

President Joe Biden has suggested it should rise again to 28%.

The UK corporation tax rate is currently 19% and due to rise to 25% by April 2023 - a rise that Ms Truss planned to cancel, but now looks set to remain in place.

Mr Moynihan was sober about the global economic outlook, saying: "Our economists, and most economists around the world predict recessions in various economies over the next 12 to 18 months."

That said, he felt the US economy was looking resilient.

"The US economy at the end of the day, it's a consumer-driven economy.

"We see our consumers even for the first three weeks of October, they're now spending still 9%-plus over what they spent last year, which is one-and-a-half times to two times the rate they're spending pre pandemic.

"And so that's a good thing.

"Now, ahead of them, you know, we've got the Fed raising rates and slowing down the economy.

"At the end of day, [US consumers] have good credit statistics and have the ability to borrow, so that's good news."

Mr Moynihan was brought in to lead Bank of America after the financial crisis, and is always on the lookout for the next potential issue for his company and his industry, particularly following the UK's recent issue with certain pension funds having too much exposure to Liability Driven Investments (LDI's).

"We always look for, if you think about the Princess and the Pea analogy, under all those mattresses, you're always looking for that pea to figure out where the risk is and where the risk gets bottled up.

"And you saw some that come out when you had a particularly strong movement in gilts, in the bonds in the UK.

"But the market now loves stability…and you're seeing it settle back down given the circumstances over the last few weeks. But yeah, that was interesting. We looked around and said: Where else could this infect the economy?

"But the good news is the banking systems across the world are in pretty good shape."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Starmer Seeks Economic Gains From China Visit While Navigating US Diplomatic Sensitivities
Starmer Says China Visit Will Deliver Economic Benefits as He Prepares to Meet Xi Jinping
UK Prime Minister Starmer Arrives in China to Bolster Trade and Warn Firms of Strategic Opportunities
The AI Hiring Doom Loop — Algorithmic Recruiting Filters Out Top Talent and Rewards Average or Fake Candidates
Amazon to Cut 16,000 Corporate Jobs After Earlier 14,000 Reduction, Citing Streamlining and AI Investment
Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rate at 3.75% as Powell Faces DOJ Criminal Investigation During 2026 Decision
Putin’s Four-Year Ukraine Invasion Cost: Russia’s Mass Casualty Attrition and the Donbas Security-Guarantee Tradeoff
Wall Street Bets on Strong US Growth and Currency Moves as Dollar Slips After Trump Comments
UK Prime Minister Traveled to China Using Temporary Phones and Laptops to Limit Espionage Risks
Google’s $68 Million Voice Assistant Settlement Exposes Incentives That Reward Over-Collection
Kim Kardashian Admits Faking Paparazzi Visit to Britney Spears for Fame in Early 2000s
UPS to Cut 30,000 More Jobs by 2026 Amid Shift to High-Margin Deliveries
France Plans to Replace Teams and Zoom Across Government With Homegrown Visio by 2027
Trump Removes Minneapolis Deportation Operation Commander After Fatal Shooting of Protester
Iran’s Elite Wealth Abroad and Sanctions Leakage: How Offshore Luxury Sustains Regime Resilience
U.S. Central Command Announces Regional Air Exercise as Iran Unveils Drone Carrier Footage
Four Arrested in Andhra Pradesh Over Alleged HIV-Contaminated Injection Attack on Doctor
Hot Drinks, Hidden Particles: How Disposable Cups Quietly Increase Microplastic Exposure
UK Banks Pledge £11 Billion Lending Package to Help Firms Expand Overseas
Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK, Accusing Conservatives of Betrayal on Core Policies
Melania Trump Documentary Sees Limited Box Office Traction in UK Cinemas
Meta and EssilorLuxottica Ray-Ban Smart Glasses and the Non-Consensual Public Recording Economy
WhatsApp Develops New Meta AI Features to Enhance User Control
Germany Considers Gold Reserves Amidst Rising Tensions with the U.S.
Michael Schumacher Shows Significant Improvement in Health Status
Greenland’s NATO Stress Test: Coercion, Credibility, and the New Arctic Bargaining Game
Diego Garcia and the Chagos Dispute: When Decolonization Collides With Alliance Power
Trump Claims “Total” U.S. Access to Greenland as NATO Weighs Arctic Basing Rights and Deterrence
Air France and KLM Suspend Multiple Middle East Routes as Regional Tensions Disrupt Aviation
U.S. winter storm triggers 13,000-plus flight cancellations and 160,000 power outages
Poland delays euro adoption as Domański cites $1tn economy and zloty advantage
White House: Trump warns Canada of 100% tariff if Carney finalizes China trade deal
PLA opens CMC probe of Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli over Xi authority and discipline violations
ICE and DHS immigration raids in Minneapolis: the use-of-force accountability crisis in mass deportation enforcement
UK’s Starmer and Trump Agree on Urgent Need to Bolster Arctic Security
Starmer Breaks Diplomatic Restraint With Firm Rebuke of Trump, Seizing Chance to Advocate for Europe
UK Finance Minister Reeves to Join Starmer on China Visit to Bolster Trade and Economic Ties
Prince Harry Says Sacrifices of NATO Forces in Afghanistan Deserve ‘Respect’ After Trump Remarks
Barron Trump Emerges as Key Remote Witness in UK Assault and Rape Trial
Nigel Farage Attended Davos 2026 Using HP Trust Delegate Pass Linked to Sasan Ghandehari
Gold Jumps More Than 8% in a Week as the Dollar Slides Amid Greenland Tariff Dispute
BlackRock Executive Rick Rieder Emerges as Leading Contender to Succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair
Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot and LG CLOiD home robot: the platform lock-in fight to control Physical AI
United States under President Donald Trump completes withdrawal from the World Health Organization: health sovereignty versus global outbreak early-warning access
FBI and U.S. prosecutors vs Ryan Wedding’s transnational cocaine-smuggling network: the fight over witness-killing and cross-border enforcement
Trump Administration’s Iran Military Buildup and Sanctions Campaign Puts Deterrence Credibility on the Line
Apple and OpenAI Chase Screenless AI Wearables as the Post-iPhone Interface Battle Heats Up
Tech Brief: AI Compute, Chips, and Platform Power Moves Driving Today’s Market Narrative
NATO’s Stress Test Under Trump: Alliance Credibility, Burden-Sharing, and the Fight Over Strategic Territory
OpenAI’s Money Problem: Explosive Growth, Even Faster Costs, and a Race to Stay Ahead
×