Dear Mr. Moynihan: Your Clock Starts Now!

Today is the last day for Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) controversial CEO Ken Lewis. In his place will step Brian Moynihan, a company insider that has held various executive positions at the company. The switch comes just weeks after the mega-bank paid back $45 billion in TARP.

Moynihan starts the job with a big question mark over his head and a target on his back. This is mainly because he was not the first choice for the top job, as company outsiders including Bank of New York Mellon's (NYSE: BK) Chairman and CEO, Bob Kelly, were wooed by the company but wouldn't take the job.

When introducing Moynihan to the world in mid-December, Lewis joked that Moynihan was the only one willing to take the job, poking fun at the turbulent search for a successor.

Lewis's legacy at Bank of America is met with mixed feelings. Hometown paper The Charlotte Observer said Lewis will be remembered mainly for the deal to acquire Merrill Lynch, which was marred with controversy as Lewis failed to disclose billion in losses at the investment bank and bonuses paid to Merrill employees. In addition to the Merrill Lynch merger, Lewis's move to acquire mortgage provider Countrywide Financial for $4 billion was met with scepticism. With the deal, the bank added billions more in souring mortgages to its balance sheet.

BofA stock closed at $15.07 yesterday, which is down 45% from the price of $27.45 on Lewis first day as CEO in 2001. BofA's dividend, once rather lucrative, has now been slashed to a penny. Q408 saw the first net loss for the company in 17 years, and they posted a loss in Q309.

While questionable acquisitions and disappearing profits and dividends will haunt the Lewis legacy, he did grow Bank of America into the largest bank in the U.S, covering 82% of the population. In 2000, Bank of America was the leading the bank in just 7 markets - California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas and Washington.

Investors hope Moynihan will take the franchise that Lewis has built and turn it into a profitable beast with a fat and solid dividend.

Moynihan main promise is to focus on "execution." But investors are asking "Is Moynihan up for this job?"

Moynihan joined FleetBoston Financial in April 1993. He was promoted to lead Corporate Strategy and Development and then went on to lead Global Wealth and Investment Management at the company. Following Bank of America's 2004 merger with FleetBoston Financial, he joined Bank of America as president of Global Wealth and Investment Management.

Brian Moynihan took over the investment banking business at BAC in October 2007, as profits fell to $100 million in 2007 from $1.43 billion in 2006. The results, coupled with a 32% drop in earnings, meant 3,000 people lost their jobs and had Lewis questioning keeping the unit.

Moving through 2008 saw Ken Lewis re-accept the idea of an investment banking division. After laying off 5,900 employees through the initial struggle, and selling its prime brokerage for $300 million to BNP Paribas SA, Lewis felt "so much better now about our investment bank than I did, say, a few weeks ago, a few months ago."

Moynihan was then moved to general counsel in December 2008, a move to make room for John Thain (then Merrill's CEO) as President of global banking, securities, and wealth management.

Then, in late January, Moynihan was named President of Bank of America's wealth management and corporate and investment banking divisions after John Thain decided to leave the company.

In a Fox News interview in April, Lewis said "[Moynihan's] got so much talent. He's so bright. But we have a lot of people on my management team that would fit that description as well." Moynihan returned the favor in June, when he said that Lewis was "the best person for the job" right now.

Lewis was then probed by Congress, the SEC, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo about misleading investors about year-end bonuses paid out to Merrill employees, before BAC purchased the firm late in 2008.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Tony Plath, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina, said "This is a real break with the past. It signals to the market that the Fleet Boston guys are in charge of the bank now." Plath believes that his young age (50) and inexperience will require him to lean heavily on the board. Plath also notes that Moynihan was a little nervous at a recent Congress testimonial, and didn't know who the largest investor in Bank of America was. That hearing in November, 2009, was about why Timothy Mayopoulos was abruptly replaced by Moynihan in December, 2008. Mayopoulos said that he had been promised by Lewis that he would be the top lawyer at both companies. Moynihan stated that he "met with [his] direct reports and started [his] job," and didn't know why Mayopoulos had been fired.

Another argument for a change at BoA is that Moynihan is a pure Northerner at the head Chair at a classically Southern company. Plath believes that this is mostly an institutional move to "break up the Charlotte-based mafia."

Moynihan seems like a "jack of all trades, master of none" type of executive, which may benefit investors as he will be able to get his head around all the different legs of BofA's operations.

If Moynihan can't "execute" as he has promised, investors will want his head. On the other hand if Moynihan can grow the company the right way, by building deposits and making smart loans which will ultimately drive the bottom line, then investors may fall in love with him and easily forget about Lewis. While Moynihan may not have been BoA's first choice, investors hope he's the best choice.

Mr. Moynihan - The stock is at $15 per share - your clock starts now!

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