Scoop: Bank of America/Pakistan

I’m sending two newsletters back-to-back today as I’m covering radically different topics! Please forgive me!

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SCOOP: Bank of America CEO to Have ‘Dinner and Conversation’ with Pakistan’s Prime Minister 

Bank of America’s CEO and Chairman Brian Moynihan is planning to sit down with Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, in September for what’s being billed as a “Dinner and Conversation,” according to an invitation that a source shared with me. 

The Sept. 23 event is being hosted at the St. Regis New York hotel by Tina Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and founder of Tina Brown Live Media. 

That the chairman and CEO of one of the world’s largest banks is willing to sit down with the prime minister of Pakistan in what is likely to be a friendly conversation during heightened tensions caused by the crisis in Kashmir is surprising to say the least.  

This move is sure to anger some of Bank of America’s Indian clients. (The same would be true of some of its Pakistani clients if Moynihan was set to have a similar dinner and conversation with Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India.)

A former top Bank America executive that I sent the invite to replied with a short text in reaction, “Why is he [Moynihan] doing this now? He doesn’t have a shortage of people to speak to!”

I’ve reached out to a Bank of America spokesperson for comment. 

If you’re not aware of what’s happening in Kashmir, I can’t do it justice in a short newsletter post, so I suggest you read this story: https://www.bbc.com/news/10537286