BofA board faces fight as Calpers plans to vote against re-election

CHARLOTTE -- Calpers, an influential fund, says Lewis and the board failed to disclose information on Bank of America's acquisition of New York-based investment bank Merrill Lynch. The group also opposes the more than $3.6 billion in bonuses that were paid ahead of schedule to Merrill employees before the deal was completed, even as Charlotte-based Bank of America was begging the government for aid to complete the acquisition.

The government helped orchestrate the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America over the same weekend in September that another investment bank, Lehman Brothers, went under, setting off one of the most intense periods of the financial crisis.

Bank of America completed its purchase of Merrill Lynch on Jan. 1.

"The entire board failed in its duties to shareowners and should be removed," said Rob Feckner, Calpers board president, in a statement.

A Bank of America spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Calpers owns 22.7 million Bank of America shares, or about one-third of one percent the bank's shares outstanding. The group joins a growing list of institutional and individual shareholders opposing the re-election of Lewis.

Bank of America is scheduled to hold its annual meeting on Wednesday in Charlotte, and management has been under pressure lately as more holders express their displeasure with the bank's current leaders.

Bank of America has received $45 billion from the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. As part of that money, the bank received $20 billion in January after Lewis requested it to help offset mounting losses at Merrill Lynch.

The bank also faces other challenges. Tuesday, reports surfaced that Bank of America, along with Citigroup, will need to raise more capital based on early results of the government's "stress tests" of lenders.