You can cross Robert Kelly off the list of potential Bank of America (BAC) CEOs.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Kelly, the CEO of Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), passed on BofA’s overtures to replace Ken Lewis when he steps down as CEO at the end of the year.
Kelly turned down the job despite his ties to Charlotte, N.C., where BofA is based. Kelly served as chief financial officer at Charlotte-based Wachovia and keeps a vacation home east of the city, the paper reported.
The news comes as BofA has come under pressure from shareholders to look outside the company for a successor to Lewis, who is set to leave amid a cloud of controversy over the bank’s disclosures about its takeover of Merrill Lynch.
Directors have faced obstacles in looking for an external candidate as some potential CEOs fall short of the board’s hopes or aren’t interested in the job, the Journal reported. BofA CFO Gregory Curl and small-business banking chief Brian Moynihan are said to be the leading internal candidates.
The BofA search committee isn’t expected to make a decision at least until the end of this week, the Journal reported.
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