Bank of America Chief Lewis Plans to Step Down at End of 2009

Bank of America Chief Lewis Plans to Step Down at End of 2009


Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, his credibility battered by his handling of the Merrill Lynch & Co. takeover, plans to step down at the end of this year.

No successor was named to replace Lewis, who will also retire as a director, according to a statement today. The resignation ends Lewis’s 40-year career at the bank, including the last eight as CEO.

Lewis, 62, oversaw more than $130 billion in acquisitions, including buying Merrill Lynch in January after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson rebuffed his effort to pull out of the purchase. He had promised the bank will recover from the recession without a third injection of U.S. funds, which total $45 billion.

“Bank of America is well-positioned to meet the continuing challenges of the economy and markets,” Lewis said in the statement. “I am particularly heartened by the results that are emerging from the decisions and initiatives of the difficult past year-and-a-half.”

The change comes five months after shareholders ousted Lewis as chairman and government officials pressed the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender to remake its board with former bankers and regulators as directors.

Lewis and the bank face probes by Congress and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into whether he misled shareholders about losses and bonuses at Merrill Lynch.

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