Bank of America shareholders have voted to allow chief executive Brian Moynihan to also hold the position of chairman, Reuters reports. A group of shareholders had campaigned to strip Moynihan of the chairman role, arguing that the CEO should be subject to oversight from an independent board. The bank separated the CEO and chairman roles in 2009 but changed its bylaws last year to allow Moynihan, who has been CEO for six years, to hold both positions.Shareholders opposed to the company's position argued that an independent board was needed to have adequate oversight of the CEO and management on behalf of shareholders.However, the majority view was summed up by State Street Global Advisors, which told Reuters that it was prepared to give the company the flexibility to choose its preferred management structure.Thirty-seven per cent of votes cast supported separation of the chairman and CEO roles.The Bank of America decision is against the corporate governance trend in the US, which has seen the proportion of companies in the S&P 500 with independent chairs increase from nine per cent in 2004 to 28 per cent last year.