Of the many struggles the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on society, financial uncertainty is one of the largest and most visible. Financial institutions and their leaders have had to weather an unprecedented situation, while simultaneously managing the public’s views of their role in providing stability at both a local and global level.

Using the Zignal Media Intelligence Cloud, we took a closer look at key aspects of the conversation surrounding top executives within the financial industry during the pandemic.

Key Findings

  • JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were the most discussed financial companies overall, with 603,823 and 432,977 mentions respectively.
  • Though Bank of America had a similar amount of mentions, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon generated nearly 4 times the attention of Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America.

Financial Executives

Date Range: February 1st, 2020 – September 15, 2020

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has far and away been the most visible finance executive during the time of COVID-19. Dimon initially spiked in early April after he published a letter forecasting a recession similar to 2008’s (Bloomberg). Mentions of Dimon spiked again in May when he wrote that COVID-19 should serve as a catalyst to address inequality (Bloomberg). Dimon was mentioned in smaller spikes in July, due to JPMorgan Chase’s earnings report, and August, for his inclusion in a group of New York CEOs committed to diversity hiring. (CNN) (New York Times)

Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, placed second in volume of coverage early in the crisis, on the news that Bank of America credit card holders and mortgage customers can have their payments deferred if they are adversely impacted by the pandemic (CNBC). Moynihan also made news in April as part of President Trump’s advisory committee, when he recommended the president to focus on defeating the virus first, as opposed to prioritizing a return to normalcy (Politico). 

Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo, was mentioned after reports came out that Wells Fargo had paused mortgage payments for some customers, even if the customers had been making their payments (NBC News). Of note, former Wells Fargo CEO Dick Kovacevich generated negative coverage for the firm by making statements urging a quick return to work, stating that “some may even die, I don’t know.” (Newsweek)

Michael Corbat, CEO of Citigroup, and several other CEOs saw a spike in mentions in mid-July, when outlets reported that large US banks had begun setting aside funds to help weather a long-term financial downturn (BBC).

For insights from Zignal’s sessions at the 2020 Digital Marketing in Financial Services virtual summit, head to the blog. For other insights and analysis into timely topics, read full-length Intelligence Briefs on our Reports page.