For Bank of America's Dealmaker, One Deal Too Many?

He grew with the company, taking larger roles as it created one of the first interstate branch networks through daring deals for ailing, and sometimes larger, rivals. The spree was capped with the 1998 acquisition of San Francisco's BankAmerica. The Charlotte company even took the name.

Three years later, when Lewis took over, his task was largely to consolidate the empire built by his predecessor, Hugh McColl. The board viewed Lewis as a reserved, patient manager, well suited to the task. And at first, he showed no inclination toward empire-building.

But by 2004, as the economic boom and housing bubble made retail banking more lucrative than it had ever been, Bank of America reaped more of the benefits than anyone else, and Lewis embarked on a buying spree designed to make the company the nation's dominant retail lender.

In 2004, he bought FleetBoston Financial, expanding into New York and New England. In 2005, he added the giant credit card lender MBNA. In 2007, LaSalle Bank. In 2008, Countrywide. And finally, fatally, on Jan. 1, 2009, he closed the deal for Merrill Lynch.

Lewis told a public audience at the time that he viewed the deal as a culmination. "I don't know if I'll get to do another acquisition during my career," he said. It proved to be a moment of unwitting prescience.

He had agreed in September to buy the company without federal support, but Merrill's losses soon spiraled beyond expectations. Bank of America increasingly faced crushing losses on its investments.

But Lewis, who had built a faltering giant, had also built a company so large that the government decided it could not let it fail.

The Bush administration agreed in January to invest $20 billion, on top of $25 billion last October, and to limit Bank of America's losses on a portfolio of more than $100 billion in devalued loans. The circumstances of that arrangement now are the subject of multiple investigations. The company also faces lawsuits from shareholders alleging that they were tricked into supporting the deal.

Wednesday's announcement got a cold reception from both groups.

"The company and its executives still need to be held accountable for the harm done to investors and retirees," read a statement from Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, who is suing Bank of America, accusing it of misleading investors.

"We hope that Bank of America's new leadership will quickly repay American taxpayers and help us finally resolve unanswered questions," said a statement from Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Bank of America has always found its leaders within its ranks, and there are internal candidates, including Brian Moynihan, appointed in August to lead the retail bank; Thomas Montag, a Merrill Lynch executive appointed to lead the combined investment bank; and Sallie L. Krawcheck, a former Citigroup executive hired to lead the wealth management division. But an overhaul of the board at the urging of regulators has left observers with little certainty about its intentions.