BofA CEO Says Financial Industry Recovery Slow

IEVA M. AUGSTUMS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bank of America Corp.'s outgoing CEO Ken Lewis said Tuesday that the economy may be improving but the recovery in the financial industry remains slow.

In what may be his last address to analysts, Lewis said at a conference in New York that Bank of America and other banks continue to be under great pressure.

"If we are seeing the beginnings of a real, sustainable recovery, it is still in its very early stages and is still very fragile," he said. "But the economic signs as I read them give us reason to believe that we may be on the path to better days."

Speaking for only 25 minutes and not accepting questions from the audience, Lewis spent most of his presentation talking about the bank's performance in the first nine months of the year.

He said the bank's integration of Merrill Lynch & Co. is ahead of schedule and will generate more expense savings in 2009 than originally forecast. Bank of America has produced $2.2 billion in cost savings related to the Merrill acquisition through Sept. 30, he said.