After Bank of New York Mellon Corp. chief executive Bob Kelly backed out of consideration, Bank of America Corp.'s board is likely to choose from one of two internal candidates to replace departing CEO Ken Lewis, a person familiar with the matter said today.
The board had zeroed in on Kelly, but the two current Bank of America executives — chief risk officer Greg Curl and consumer banking head Brian Moynihan — remained in "active consideration," the person said. While nothing is definite, the board will likely consider selecting one of the two executives towards the end of the week, the person said.
Kelly, a former Wachovia Corp. chief financial officer, emerged as a frontrunner in recent days but on Monday afternoon told employees at BNY Mellon that he was staying put. The person familiar with the matter said compensation was an issue and that Kelly had also raised the possibility of moving the Charlotte bank's headquarters to New York. BNY Mellon has denied that compensation was a sticking point.
"Mr. Kelly was very flexible on compensation — in fact it was at the bottom of his list — but the more important drivers of his decision were the strategic opportunities for growth at BNY Mellon," BNY Mellon spokesman Kevin Heine said.
Under fire for his Merrill Lynch & Co. acquisition, Lewis, 62, announced plans in September to step down at year's end after four decades with the company. A six-director search committee has been searching for a replacement since then.
