BofA CEO Search Faces Challenges

Updated from Thursday, Oct. 1

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (TheStreet) -- As Bank of America (BAC Quote) CEO Ken Lewis prepares to step away from the plate, everyone is wondering, who's up to bat?

There's a long list of candidates, including some cited by Lewis himself on Aug. 3. Brian Moynihan seems to be the leading internal candidate, according to most armchair speculators, since he has experience in key banking divisions, has worked closely with regulators and was once BofA's top lawyer.

Moynihan, currently the head of BofA's consumer banking division, is also Lewis' right-hand man -- a designation that might help put him in the CEO role, but could also hurt him once he's there.

Lewis has deflected the suggestion that investigations into the Merrill Lynch deal are the main driver of his departure. The 62-year-old North Carolinian banker, who has spent 40 years at BofA and its predecessors, insisted that he plans to leave because his work "is largely finished." But it's undeniable that Lewis is leaving the bank because of Merrill, and the work he set out to accomplish is far from over.

There are several ongoing investigations into the deal, with board members being subpoenaed, and requests from Congress and a federal judge that the bank waive its attorney-client privilege rights to allow former general counsel Timothy Mayopoulos to testify. No charges have yet been filed, but it's clear that while Lewis was the key decision-maker, he didn't act alone.

His right-hand man -- who also happens to have succeeded Mayopoulos as BofA's top lawyer last December -- is certainly not free of the Merrill stigma.