BofA urged by proxy advisers to split CEO, chair roles

(Reuters) - Proxy advisers Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) on Friday both urged Bank of America to split the CEO and chairman roles held by Brian Moynihan.

"Appointment of a chair of the board who is independent of management, i.e. not also serving as CEO, is nearly always preferable to having a single individual lead both the board and the executive team," Glass Lewis said in a note.

The second-largest U.S. bank appointed Moynihan as chief executive in 2009, followed by his appointment as chair in 2014.

Earlier this week, the advisers also urged Goldman Sachs to split its CEO and chair roles, which are held by David Solomon, and urged a further break with management by calling on shareholders to reject the bank's executive pay plans.

After the 2008 financial crisis, investors seeking to improve risk oversight mounted efforts to separate the chair and CEO roles at Goldman and other Wall Street giants like JPMorgan Chase.

Banks often fended these off by making other changes, such as giving new powers to a lead independent director, which Goldman also did in 2013.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru and Saeed Azhar; Editing by Leslie Adler)