The race to succeed Kenneth Lewis as the Bank of America Corp chief executive has narrowed to two internal candidates, though the board is still looking for a new face for the nation's largest bank by assets, says a media report.
The internal candidates are Bank of America Chief Risk Officer Gregory Curl and Brian Moynihan, the Charlotte, NC, bank's consumer and small-business banking chief, The Wall Street Journal said attributing to people familiar with the situation.
A board search committee formed last week is also expected to sift through external candidates, and other names could enter the process depending on input from other Bank of America directors.
Among financial-services executives not at Bank of America, those discussed by the board include Gregory Fleming, former president and chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch & Co and a senior research scholar and lecturer at Yale Law School, the report said citing people aware of the matter.
The search committee is expected to meet for the first time later this week, followed by a meeting of the full board on Friday.
The report noted that if the 61-year-old Curl is named the CEO, he would keep the job for no more than two years, whereas Moynihan, 49, will likely be a long-term choice.
However, the search for the CEO began after Lewis announced his retirement with effect from December 31, 2009 last week.
Curl became the chief risk officer following the departure of Amy Woods Brinkley last summer.
Moynihan joined the bank as part of the 2004 takeover of FleetBoston Financial Corp and has broad experience with the company. He has run wealth management and investment bank and has also served as general counsel, while Bank of America digested Merrill.
In April this year, irate shareholders voted to oust Lewis as chairman of the company. He was severely criticised for troubles at BOFA forcing it to seek two federal bailouts.
