BofA may name stopgap CEO if board needs time for search

The directors, who met Friday, may be willing go past their Nov. 26 target and the Dec. 31 retirement of CEO Kenneth D. Lewis if it means getting a better choice, according to a person familiar with the deliberations. At least four external candidates, including Citigroup Inc. director Michael O'Neill, rebuffed approaches. Options include an interim chief or a delay in Lewis's retirement.

Bank of America faces pressure to pick someone in a short period who's acceptable to regulators and whose pay would be low enough to win approval from the Treasury Department paymaster, the people said. Politics also has influenced the choice at the biggest U.S. bank, the people said. House Oversight Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns said last week Brian Moynihan, one of two internal candidates, may lack the needed leadership.

That's narrowing the field and giving the board “an incredibly tough job,” said Michael Holland, who oversees more than US$4 billion as chairman of Holland & Co. in New York. “For people who have choices, it's hard to figure out why someone would take this job.”

The people familiar with the matter spoke before any board meetings this weekend. They declined to be identified because CEO selection is confidential at the Charlotte, North Carolina- based bank, the biggest in the U.S.

Decision Nears

Bank of America representatives have said the bank was aiming for a decision by the Nov. 26 Thanksgiving holiday, calling it a target rather than a deadline. “The board has been talking to a number of candidates, both internal and external, and expects to have a decision in the very near future,” spokesman Robert Stickler said in a Nov. 20 e-mail.

Holland said director Charles K. “Chad” Gifford, a former CEO of FleetBoston Financial Corp., which was bought by Bank of America in 2004, could step in on an interim basis.

Some candidates are reluctant to wade into disagreement between board members and the government over the bank's future strategy, said Rochdale Securities LLC analyst Richard Bove, citing large shareholders briefed on the matter.

“The government and perhaps some of the new directors want the bank cut back in size, while the old core Bank of America people don't want to do that,” Bove said.

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