NewsDaily: BofA CEO search to drag until Thanksgiving: report

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BofA CEO search to drag until Thanksgiving: report

Posted 2009/11/06 at 10:41 am EST

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, Nov. 6, 2009 (Reuters) — Bank of America Corp's CEO search could last until Thanksgiving, the New York Post reported on Friday.

The paper, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank is struggling to find an outside candidate, and the process is creating factions among the directors.

Some favor an outside candidate, while others prefer replacing retiring CEO Ken Lewis with an executive from among the bank's senior ranks, namely retail bank head Brian Moynihan.

But Moynihan, favored by Bank of America's directors from the former FleetBoston, is coming under increasing scrutiny for his role in the Merrill Lynch buyout last year. The board, the paper reported, is seeking to appoint someone free of such scrutiny.

JPMorgan Chase executives Bill Winters and Charlie Scharf and Citigroup Inc director Michael O'Neil all have turned down the post, according to the paper.

Bank of New York Mellon CEO Bob Kelly also withdrew his name from consideration on Thursday, after notifying senior executives at his bank that he was not interested in the Bank of America job.

Bank of America did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the Post report.

(Reporting by Joe Rauch, editing by Dave Zimmerman)