Ken Lewis, chief executive officer and president, has notified the board of Bank of America of his decision to retire at the end of this year. Financial News runs through some possible internal succession candidates as well as some extremely unlikely options.

Todd Hagerman, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said in a report the chances are low that the board will choose an external candidate. He said: "We believe the reorganisation announced in August was approved by Bank of America's federal bank supervisors, including the emergence of Brian Moynihan as the leading internal candidate."