The candidates are lining up to take over from CEO Ken Lewis, who is due to step down at the end of the year, but the list is somewhat underwhelming - so much so, that BofA may be forced to appoint an interim CEO for a year to buy enough time to identify the right long-term leader.

And the most likely candidates for the interim role are thought to be former bank Chairman Charles Gifford, and William Boardman, who had executive responsibility at Bank One and was chairman of Visa International. Both men are on Bank of America's board.

The raft of longer-term internal candidates to take over from Lewis include favourite Brian Moynihan (Consumer & Small Business Banking), Greg Curl (Chief Risk Officer), Barbara Desoer (Home Loans & Insurance), Sallie Krawcheck (Global Wealth & Investment Management), Thomas Montag (Global Banking & Markets), and Joe Price (CFO). But if any of these candidates were thought worthy, why haven't they been appointed already ?

And many critics are amazed that the board didn't have a contingency plan in place for the eventuality that Lewis decided to step aside quickly (as this has been a possibility for several months now). Isn't leadership succession planning one of the board's main functions ? Having said this, BofA needs to get this one right, and that might explain why an interim CEO brought over to steady the ship could be an attractive option.

External candidates are thought to include former bank executive Alvaro de Molina, who now runs GMAC, former Wachovia CEO Bob Steel, ex-US Bancorp CEO Jerry Grundhofer, American Express President Alfred Kelly and James Hance, a former BofA Vice Chairman. Longer shots are former Merrill Lynch exec Greg Fleming, former Bear Stearns boss Alan Schwartz, ex-Goldman Vice Chairman Robert Kaplan and former JPMorgan co-CEO Bill Winters.

But it's a daunting task running Bank of America these days, and most of the names in the frame don't possess the skills or experience to run a global business of its size and complexity. Some now say that Bank of America isn't only too big to fail, it's become simply too big to effectively manage too.

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