Drawing a Bead on Bank of America

Chief Risk Officer Greg Curl -- who had been in the running against Moynihan to lead the entire bank -- was replaced by Bruce Thompson, and now plans to retire at the end of March. Chief Accounting Officer Neil Cotty took over Price's position as CFO for the time being, though no permanent replacement has been named.

Since then, there have been several lower-level personnel decisions made by top managers. Tom Montag, who heads the capital markets business, has appointed Sam Chapin and Todd Kaplan as co-vice-chairmen of global banking and Paul Donofrio to lead corporate banking. There have been some other moves in research, investment banking and wealth management as well.

While all of these transitions take place, Moynihan has yet to outline any comprehensive business plan for how Bank of America will capitalize on its size and strengths to become not just the largest U.S. bank, but the best and most profitable. He has, however, indicated a shift to a new mantra: Customers first.

Moynihan seems determined to change B of A's reputation from a large, cold, corporate entity that preys on consumers with hidden fees and soaring interest rates, to one that explains terms clearly and is ready to offer appropriate financial services. Bank of America has adopted many of the government's programs to protect and assist consumers ahead of its peers -- most notably, JPMorgan Chase(JPM), which has fought some of them tooth and nail.

But whether that's a short-term marketing tactic to tamp down negative headlines, or a long-term strategy to regain customer trust, is yet to be seen. It's also unclear whether that strategy is one that appeals to shareholders as much as borrowers and depositors.

"What shareholders need is Bank of America's point of view backed by solid analysis of the markets it participates in," Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove said in a note Tuesday. "This has not been forthcoming and statements that no changes are necessary only deepen investors' belief that they should rent this stock for the earnings recovery and not own it."

From a retail investor's point of view, there's certainly a lot of noise to cut through before deciding whether Bank of America's stock is cheap, expensive or fairly valued. Besides the big, but hard-to-measure, changes at Bank of America specifically, shifting political winds seem to change plans for financial-regulatory reform overnight, and there are conflicting signals on any given day about the country's economic health.