Bank of America exec sends over $600,000 to GOP, even as most bankers pull back

A senior Bank of America executive has become a top Republican donor in banking, aggressively funding GOP congressional candidates in a practice that others in his business have shunned.

Chief Operating Officer Tom Montag, who oversees Bank of America’s investment bank, donated $641,889 to political causes in the 2019-20 election cycle — almost all to Republican candidates for Congress.

That’s up from $583,700 for the 2017-18 cycle, and far higher than his giving before the administration of President Donald Trump, according to Federal Elections Commission data compiled for the Observer by the Center for Responsive Politics. In the 2014 election cycle, he gave only $97,900.

While there are restrictions on how much an individual can donate to a candidate, the bulk of Montag’s giving was to joint fundraising committees, which allow donors to write one big check that’s spread around to many candidates. Each candidate then receives a donation within the legal limits.

Montag’s donations make him one of the top donors to Republican causes in the banking industry. According to federal records, he did not donate to the Trump campaign, or any other GOP efforts.

The New York-based Montag declined to comment. Bank of America also declined to comment. Bank of America employs 16,000 people in Charlotte, its headquarters city.

True belief

A veteran of Wall Street, Montag is generally considered to be the most powerful executive at Bank of America below CEO Brian Moynihan. He joined Merrill Lynch in 2008 from Goldman Sachs, just before Merrill was bought by Bank of America. For a time, he actually made more money than his boss, Moynihan.

He was once considered a candidate to succeed Moynihan as CEO, but with Moynihan only 61, the 63-year-old Montag’s odds of succession have dimmed.

Montag seldom makes public statements. But after Trump’s 2016 election, he spoke to the Wall Street Journal about the boon that Trump’s election was for the bank’s trading desk — and for all of Wall Street. Montag said that it was “probably healthy” to “take a breath” and examine whether Obama-era regulations made sense, could be improved or made more efficient.

Over the next four years, the Trump administration rolled back a number of Obama-era regulations on Wall Street, freeing up billions in capital originally meant to protect the financial system in case of a crisis.

While donations don’t always equate to influence, a sizable campaign contribution can make it harder for a politician to ignore a call once in office. To be sure, many donors are true believers, who donate because they believe in a politician or a cause, and not out of a desire to see policy bent to their business interests.

Montag’s donations don’t appear targeted toward members of Congress who work on financial policy. Most were made through groups with the aim of retaking the House of Representatives for Republicans.

In the 2020 cycle, he gave $500,000 to the group “Take Back the House 2020” and $150,000 to the “McCarthy Victory Fund,” a group tied to GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy. “He could just be a true believer,” said Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project, which scrutinizes conflicts of interest in politics. “It’s kind of playing a long game, because the minority is not very powerful in the modern House.”

Spending boom

As American politics have become more and more polarized in the last decade, banks and bankers have generally pulled back from giving large amounts of money to politicians — at least publicly. There are many ways that individuals can contribute to political causes without public notice, such as donating to political nonprofits.

Bankers and banks consistently gave more money to political causes every election cycle until about 2008, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Then, the growth of donations slowed. So far, the amount of money given to candidates this year by commercial banks and their employees, $45.5 million, is only slightly more than that given in 2012, which was $42.8 million. That leveling out occurred despite a boom in spending on U.S. elections.

While bankers may have stepped back from politics, many in finance, but outside of banking, took on a much larger role in financing and influencing the country’s politics.

Citadel’s Ken Griffin, for example, has donated about $46 million to mostly Republican causes this election cycle. In the same time, finance data mogul and former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg has given about $107 million to mostly Democratic causes.

Consistent with interests

Many bankers, including those at Bank of America, donate to their institution’s political action committee, or PAC, in lieu of directly giving to candidates. Bank of America’s PAC backs those politicians whose “views on specific issues are consistent with Bank of America’s interest,” according to a bank website.

CEO Moynihan’s lone political contribution direct to a candidate since 2014 was to the congressional campaign of Massachusetts Democrat Rufus Gifford in 2017. Gifford is the son of Charles Gifford, the former board chairman of Bank of America. Rufus now is the deputy campaign manager for former Vice President Joe Biden.

All other public donations Moynihan made in that time have been to the PAC.

So far this election, Bank of America’s PAC has spent about $734,000, according to federal elections data, with much of that going to the Republicans and Democrats who sit on the congressional committees that regulate the bank. That’s about $90,000 more than Montag, the COO, gave personally.

Bank of America was also the top donor to the host committee of the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, giving $5.3 million. The bank said it gave a similar amount to Charlotte’s 2012 Democratic National Convention. A spokesman said this month that the RNC donation was “part of our commitment to our headquarters city of Charlotte.”

Montag’s giving is against the prevailing winds in bankers’ politics, too.

Many on Wall Street have backed former Vice President Joe Biden in his bid against Trump, including former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl, who donated to Biden earlier this year.

Other bankers have different strategies. New Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf hasn’t made a public federal political contribution since joining the bank last year. His predecessor, Tim Sloan, donated to Trump’s campaign. Truist CEO Kelly King hasn’t contributed to either presidential race, but donated $5,000 to the North Carolina Republican Party in September.

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 6:15 AM.