BofA CEO Ken Lewis to retire by end of the year

Bank of America CEO and President Ken Lewis announced Wednesday his plans to retire at year end.

Lewis will end a 40-year career with the company, succumbing to nearly a year of strife that followed his company’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch&Co., by Dec. 31. The bank said its board plans “to ensure his successor is selected by that date.”

In April, shareholders angry at his decision to acquire the faltering firms Merrill Lynch and Countrywide late last year voted to strip him of his chairmanship, though he remained in charge of the company as CEO.

Just a week prior to a company shareholders meeting, it was revealed that, when subpoenaed by the New York attorney general, Lewis testified that Bush administration officials had forced him to keep shareholders in the dark about the dangers of purchasing a hemorrhaging Merrill Lynch.

The Merrill Lynch and Countrywide integrations are on track and returning value already,” Lewis said in his resignation statement.

“Our board of directors and our senior management include more talent, and more diversity of talent, than at any time in this company’s history,” he added. “We are in position to begin to repay the federal government’s TARP investments. For these reasons, I decided now is the time to begin to transition to the next generation of leadership at Bank of America.”

Lewis and the bank remain under investigation by the SEC and several states’ attorneys general, including Andrew Cuomo of New York.

“Ken Lewis’ decision to step down will have no impact on our continuing investigation,” Cuomo said in a statement.