By David Mildenberg Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, promoted Brian Moynihan to chief executive officer, a person familiar with the matter said. Moynihan, the 50-year-old head of the consumer banking unit, will be in charge of repairing the company after the tumultuous takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. pushed Kenneth D. Lewis into early retirement. Lewis, 62, said Sept. 30 he’d step down by the end of this year. Bank of America’s new boss must stanch defaults on consumer loans tied to the recession, which led to two losses in the past four quarters. He must also integrate Merrill Lynch and smooth relations with regulators after they clashed with Lewis over the purchase. The bank paid back $45 billion to the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program on Dec. 9. Moynihan takes charge of the biggest U.S. lender by assets and deposits, the No. 1 home lender and the largest issuer of debit cards. He’ll also oversee underwriting, trading and retail brokerage operations of New York-based Merrill Lynch. The bank counts 53 million consumer and small-business customers in 150 countries at 6,000 offices, and the company’s stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average . To contact the reporters on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at dmildenberg@bloomberg.net .
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Bank of America Names Brian Moynihan as Chief Executive, Replacing Lewis
