Nov. 3--Is Bank of America actually vetting outside candidates to be chief executive, or it just trying to create the appearance of doing so?

That's the accusation raised today by a Houston investment firm. In a regulatory filing, Finger Interests Ltd. urged the bank's board not to appoint Brian Moynihan or Greg Curl, two current executives at the bank who have been seen as frontrunners for the CEO's job, which Ken Lewis will give up at the end of the year.

Without giving details, Finger Interests said it has confirmed that the board has "not even contacted or made serious inquiries much less offers to the most qualified and obvious candidates," such as Al de Molina or Jim Hance. Both of them have previously held the job of chief financial officer at Bank of America.

A bank spokesman declined to comment.

The Finger family also laid out an 18-name list of potential candidates for CEO, all of whom are Bank of America outsiders. The filing also urges shareholders to "continue to advise (the) Board of your wishes for an outside candidate." The following list is "is no particular order" and "by no means complete," the Fingers said.

Al de Molina, CEO of GMAC Financial Services.

Jim Hance, chairman of Sprint Nextel.

Bill Demchak, senior vice chairman at PNC.

Richard Davis, CEO of U.S. Bancorp.

Ned Kelly, vice chairman and head of strategy and M&A at Citigroup.

Charlie Scharf, CEO of retail financial services at JPMorgan Chase.

Arkadi Kuhlmann, president of ING Direct.

John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley. He will retire Jan. 1.

Bill Winters, co-CEO of investment banking at JPMorgan Chase.

Gene McQuade, CEO of Citigroup's banking division.

John Kanas, CEO of the private equity group that bought failed Bank United in Florida.

Alfred Kelly, president of American Express. Slated to leave in April.

Michael O'Neill, brought onto Citigroup's board this year. Formerly the CFO of San Francisco-based BankAmerica.

Rich Fairbank, CEO of Capital One.

Jerry Grundhofer, brought onto Citigroup's board this year. Formerly the CFO of U.S. Bancorp.

Tony Terracciano, chairman of Sallie Mae. Formerly CEO of First Fidelity, which was bought by First Union.

Gerald J. Ford, chairman and formerly CEO of First Acceptance Corp.

David Nelms, CEO of Discover Financial Services

-----

To see more of The Charlotte Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.charlotteobserver.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:BAC, NYSE:S, NYSE:USB, NYSE:C, NYSE:JPM, NYSE:MS, NYSE:AXP, NYSE:FAC, NYSE:DFS,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.