Walter Hamilton And E. Scott Reckard -
Kenneth D. Lewis, who became a focus of public and political outrage while presiding over Bank of America Corp.’s stunning fall from grace in the financial crisis, is stepping down as chief executive at the end of the year.
Lewis, who had helped build the company into the nation’s largest bank, faced widening criticism in particular for the company’s acquisition of faltering giant Wall Street brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co.
He joins a line of once widely admired CEOs who quit or lost their jobs in the wake of huge losses stemming from the mortgage meltdown, including the heads of Citigroup, Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch itself and Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America also acquired in a fire-sale deal that garnered harsh criticism.
Lewis, CEO since 2001, will vacate that post and step down from the company’s board Dec. 31, Bank of America said Wednesday. No successor was named.
Merrill Lynch’s losses snowballed after the deal was announced last fall, prompting the federal government to increase its bailout investment in Bank of America to $45 billion, money the company has yet to repay. The deal also triggered a host of legal and political headaches that still dog BofA.
Lewis’ planned departure comes after shareholders stripped him of his chairman title in April as various government entities were investigating the Merrill takeover and as criticism of Lewis in Congress was reaching a crescendo.
“He’s become too much of a liability for the company and the …
Read the original article at Latimes
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