BofA Loses Top CEO Candidate

Bank of America may have scrambled to pay back its TARP money to free itself from compensation limits, but that doesn’t mean the company is handing over blank checks: BofA failed to reach an agreement with its top outside candidate in its CEO search and will hire one of two internal candidates instead, The Wall Street Journal reports. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. CEO Robert Kelly’s asking price was too high—he reportedly wanted more than $20 million in annual compensation, plus he raised the possibility of moving Bank of America’s headquarters to New York and becoming chairman. BofA is expected now to promote its Chief Risk Officer Gregory Curl or president of consumer and small-business banking Brian Moynihan when current CEO Ken Lewis retires at the end of the year.