Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis Retires Under Pressure

Known as "the deal maker", Lewis struck a deal to purchase the Merrill Lynch last fall, a move that pushed Bank of America toward a second bailout from the government in January. Bank of America, which has received $45 billion in taxpayer bailout money, last week announced several measures to cut its reliance on federal aid.

Shareholders were extremely upset about the second bailout and voted in the spring to strip Mr. Lewis of his chairmanship. Although this was a major blow to Lewis he did not indicate at the time that he would leave Bank of America.

Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis went from American Banker's 2008 Banker of the Year in December 2008 to someone under tough public scrutiny in 2009. Questions started coming out in 2009 about how the bank publicly disclosed roughly $3 billion in accelerated Merrill Lynch bonus payments and billions in Merrill Lynch losses during fourth quarter 2008 in advance of a shareholder vote on the deal.

Bank of America and Mr. Lewis have come under intense pressure due to several investigations being conducted regarding the Merrill Lynch deal. The attorney general of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is considering filing charges against bank executives, and the Securities and Exchange Commission will be taking the bank to court. This will not change even with Lewis' departure.

Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis is expected to step down as of January 1. A successor has no been named but hopefully it will be someone who can quickly restore Bank of America’s credibility with regulators and investors.

Written by Cheryl Phillips
Exclusive to HULIQ.com

sources: Reuters, NYT