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 He succeeds Charles "Chad" Holliday, the former chief executive of
the chemical company E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co <DD.N>, who
served as the bank's chairman for more than four years.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said Jack Bovender, the
former chief executive of hospital operator HCA Inc <HCA.UL> and a
member of the bank's board since August 2012, will become its lead
independent director.
Bank of America had combined the roles of chairman and chief
executive until 2009, when shareholders voted to strip then-chief
executive Ken Lewis of his chairman title. Investors objected to his
decision to acquire Merrill Lynch at the peak of the financial
crisis, and to the fact that executives at the investment bank
received big bonuses just before the deal closed, in a quarter when
it lost more than $15 billion.
In 2012, the bank agreed to pay $2.43 billion to settle claims that
it had withheld information from shareholders about the financial
health of Merrill Lynch at the time of its purchase.
When Moynihan succeeded Lewis in January 2010, he began shedding
billions in assets outside of its main businesses to simplify Bank
of America's operations and tried to resolve the legal and
regulatory woes haunting the bank post-crisis.
Additionally, Moynihan reworked the bank's board in response to
regulatory pressure to add more directors with banking expertise.
In August, the bank agreed to pay $16.65 billion to resolve
accusations that it misled investors into buying mortgage bonds that
ended up going sour, putting to bed the majority of its legal issues
tied to the financial crisis.
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Moynihan's election to board chairman makes Citigroup Inc the only
large U.S. bank to have separate chairman and chief executive roles.
JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon survived a 2013
shareholder vote to oust him as chairman of the board following its
$6.2 billion "London Whale" trading scandal.
Bank of America's shares were up slightly at $16.86 in extended
trade. They closed at $16.82 on the New York Stock Exchange on
Wednesday.
(Reporting by Peter Rudegeair, Krishna Chaithanya and Anil D'Silva;
editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Gunna Dickson)
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