With Ken Lewis set to step down from the CEO role at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) on Thursday, his replacement is now in sight. Bank of America has appointed an internal successor, senior executive Brian Moynihan as its new chief executive offiver.
The speculation has abounded for months as to who would lead the nation’s largest bank into its next phase. For a while there, many were unsure if anyone would even take the job – leading to speculation that Lewis would continue on past his announced exit date.
However, after the TARP funds were repaid, momentum was gained, and the bank now has its new leader, one who will likely keep his office in Charlotte, and is already familiar with the firm’s culture (or at least a large piece of it). The bank has a lot of work to do – integrating the Countrywide Home Mortgage business, and Merril Lynch into it’s operations is going to be an enormous task. A company once prided with having all executives under one roof in North Carolina now has Senior Management located in both NEw York and California. The logistical problems alone will be a new issue for the firm.
Ken Lewis commented “I have worked closely with Brian Moynihan for six years, and I believe he is the right person to lead our company forward,” exiting CEO Ken Lewis said in a statement. He is a decisive leader and an exacting manager.”
Walter Massey, Chairman of BofA added “Brian has been the top executive leading wealth management, corporate and investment banking and consumer banking. His work with international clients in our capital markets businesses has given him broad knowledge of and perspective on global financial services markets.”
Will Moynihan be capable of guiding the firm through this important time? Moynihan commented “We have everything we need at Bank of America to be the best financial services company in the world. What we need to do now is very simple. We need to execute.” This may be easier said than done though, as the firm faces many challenges in the coming years, particularly a sweeping set of changes are set to go into effect for the credit card industry in February of 2010. BofA is currently the second largest issuer of credit cards in the country, and even more changes are likely ahead as Congress pushes forward with additional banking industry reforms.
