Nov. 7--At a posh Florida resort in February 2007, Ken Lewis unveiled Bank of America's aggressive new strategy to a roomful of Wall Street analysts.

Using laptops packed with presentations, the chief executive and his lieutenants paraded out plans to expand in investment banking, say "yes" more to customers seeking loans and launch more innovative products. Revenues and profits would rise without doing another big deal.

"We do not have to acquire to meet our financial goals," Lewis said.

Lewis, who had become CEO in 2001, was brimming with confidence, coming off a year of record profits and a peaking stock price. Still, investors wondered how the Charlotte bank could squeeze out even more profits.

This conference was a chance to show them that the bank would be a bold leader in an industry frothing with consumer credit, business financing and complex capital markets products.

Lewis' Jan. 1 purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. is now causing him the most public trouble. But risky steps he would take starting in early 2007 would also weigh on the company as it entered the recession and the financial crisis.

The Florida gathering marked the bank's efforts to heap on more risk in consumer lending and investment banking, a move that would end up coming just as the housing market and economy were about to falter. And despite saying the bank didn't need to buy to succeed, Lewis launched a deal-making spree a few weeks later by agreeing to buy Chicago's LaSalle Bank for $21 billion in cash. That deal, plus the later purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp., would eat into capital that would be needed later to soak up loan losses.

Lewis made these moves with a management team that some former executives say wasn't likely to challenge him on strategy or acquisitions. In recent years, he also has lost a series of top leaders, including several chief financial officers.

By late 2007, the bank was caught up in the economic tsunami that battered much of the banking industry, and it is still struggling to recover. It's hard to say if Bank of America would be better off if it hadn't done the Merrill deal in late 2008, or what shape the company would be in if it had not ramped up its risk in 2007. What's clear is the earlier moves sapped the bank just as it offered itself as savior to the distressed Merrill in the banking meltdown in the fall of 2008.

Under fire largely for the Merrill deal, Lewis, 62, is stepping down by year's end. The bank's board of directors is scrambling to find a successor among internal and external candidates.

In retrospect, the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., conference marked a dramatic turning point in Lewis' more than eight years as CEO.

"The first five years of his tenure were really strong," one former executive said of Lewis, who like others spoke to the Observer on the condition of anonymity so as not to damage their careers or friendships. "Maybe he got bad advice or got overconfident. Beginning in 2007, he clearly took the company in a different direction."

Many players in the banking industry entered riskier businesses during the boom years and have since suffered losses in last year's financial crisis. Some of those banks have failed or been acquired. While profitable in 2008 and so far in 2009, Bank of America is saddled with $45 billion in government loans. The Merrill deal has bolstered profits this year, but it also spurred the need for $20 billion of the government aid.

Bank spokesman Bob Stickler said Lewis followed a strategic vision that is already helping the bank's earnings and setting the stage for even stronger performance when the economy turns. "Most long-term investors believe he has created the premier financial services franchise in the U.S., if not the world," Stickler said. "As we go forward, the benefits of this diversity and earnings power will accrue to the bank's shareholders and customers."

The bank said Lewis is not doing interviews. In a conference call with analysts this month, he said the bank has created "the best financial franchise in the world" and he looks forward "to seeing it play out over the next few years."

The year leading into the conference at Ponte Vedra was a heady time. The bank reaped a record $21.1 billion in profits, and in November its stock hit an all-time high of $54.90. The bank also briefly eclipsed Citigroup for the title of the world's biggest bank by market value. Shortly before the event, the bank debuted its new "Bank of Opportunity" national marketing campaign during the Oscars awards broadcast.

Lewis benefited personally, as well. A Mississippi native who was raised by a single mother and who worked his way through Georgia State University, he landed compensation for 2006 of $97 million, including $77 million from exercising stock options accumulated over years. That compared with $6.7 million in his first year as CEO in 2001.