In what might be Ken Lewis's final address to bank analysts, the outgoing chief executive of Bank of America today offered a brief defence of his controversial tenure and said the bank is now primed to become a world-class company.

"I am confident history will show that our actions... in building Bank of America, positioned our company for future success," Lewis told analysts at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference in New York. "As I look ahead, I see no reason that Bank of America will not be among the handful of the most important and most successful financial-services companies in the world."