Bank of America Had No Succession Plan

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --

Reports are out today that several of the candidates under consideration for the top job at Bank of America(BAC) have called on the board to consider breaking up the bank. They are having none of it. As a result, the CEO search for Ken Lewis' replacement continues.

All in all, you would have to give the board of Bank of America an "F" for how it's monitored management and succession planning since a firestorm enveloped the company last fall.

Primary blame for the lack of a succession plan lies at the feet at the feet of Hugh McColl, Lewis' predecessor. McColl, since retired, had really shaped what Bank of America has grown into. Walter Massey is the current chairman.

On a "Frontline" episode from last year describing the financial meltdown, McColl recounted how he'd masterminded turning the small NCNB National Bank of North Carolina into the Bank of America juggernaut. He said that, as a company, "you're either growing or you're dying."

He took that advice to heart and did a series of acquisitions of companies to create a national titan in banking. And that's why it's unlikely this bank will break itself up now or while McColl is still around. It's just not in their corporate DNA.

Bank of America is the house the Hugh built. He handpicked his board to be his lapdogs. He handpicked his successor, Lewis, to carry on exactly in the fashion he had led the bank.