Lewis Out? Calls Intensify for Bank of America Chief's Resignation

April 24, 2009— -- Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is facing renewed calls for his resignation after testifying that threats by the Bush administration forced him to keep shareholders in the dark about the dangers of purchasing a hemorrhaging Merrill Lynch.

In his testimony to the New York attorney general, Lewis said then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson threatened him on Dec. 21, 2008, with the prospect of removing the management and board of directors of the bank if Lewis refused to complete the merger with Merrill Lynch even though Merrill was losing money.

Some shareholders have been angry at Lewis for months, claiming the Merrill takeover pushed the stock down more than 70 percent in 12 months. They also hold him responsible for allowing Merrill Lynch to pay its executives $3.6 billion in bonuses just prior to the merger.

But Thursday's allegations added a new layer of anger, contributing to a sense among shareholders that Lewis was dishonest about the company's fiscal health and put his own interests before those of the shareholders.

"There is absolutely no question he had an obligation to be honest to the shareholders," said Richard W. Clayton, spokesman for the Change to Win Investment Group, which manages 33 million Bank of America shares, or about one half of one percent of the bank's stock, for the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union and other trade groups.

With an eye to a shareholders meeting scheduled for next week, CTW called again for Lewis and other executives to step down.

"Bank of America needs a CEO and board of directors that will put the interests of shareholders ahead of their own interest in self-preservation," CTW said in a written statement.

" Voting against Chairman and CEO Ken Lewis, Lead Director O. Temple Sloan and Governance Committee chair Thomas Ryan at the bank's April 29 annual meeting is the necessary first step in this process," the statement read.

"Mr. Lewis and the board owe their fiduciary obligation to the corporation and its shareholders, not to the regulators who reportedly pressed them to close the deal and who may or may not have also pressed them not to disclose manifestly material facts," the statement read.