Modified Wed, Nov 25, 2009 08:34 PM
CEO search at BofA may stretch into 2010
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close xCHARLOTTE -- Bank of America is having such a hard time finding a new CEO that analysts wonder whether Ken Lewis might have to stay past his planned Dec. 31 departure.
The nation's largest bank had said Lewis' replacement could be announced by Thanksgiving, but with no obvious choice emerging, analysts don't see that happening.
That may not be a surprise - this has been no ordinary CEO search. Like other struggling banks that have received federal bailout money, Bank of America is operating under government restrictions, among them having to get approval from federal pay director Kenneth Feinberg for how much it can pay its new leader.
"The situation now is far more complex and far more challenging than it was a few months ago," said Anil Shivdasani, a finance professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. "Given the extent of the involvement of the U.S. government, the pay czar, a new board, it has been hard to find a capable CEO that would want to take this job."
Lewis' decision to retire, announced in September, capped a year of shareholder fury and regulatory scrutiny over the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Lewis was stripped of his chairman post in April.
Charlotte-based Bank of America is under pressure to choose a new CEO who can restore the company's relationship with regulators and members of Congress who have criticized Lewis and the bank since the Merrill Lynch deal closed in January.
The new CEO will have to contend with rising losses.
Those challenges "aren'teasy tasks," said Alois Pirker, wealth management research director with Aite Group.
It wasn't clear whether the bank's board, which meets on Fridays, is meeting this week.
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