Now hear this: Bob Kelly, the CEO of Bank of New York Mellon (BK), is not interested in running Bank of America (BAC). He had been saying as much for at least a week, but the press kept insisting he was still in the running. It was almost like wishful thinking among directors.

"I want to be clear: I am not interested," Kelly wrote in an internal email obtained by Reuters. He also said, "I look forward to crafting the future with you." Now this may be a ploy. He may be making the Bank of America board really beg, and pony up.

The bottom line is that any outsider is bargaining from strength right now. The external candidates are few and far between, and you'd have to guess the search committee is starting to get a little bit nervous. They had wanted a new CEO in place pretty quickly. But that doesn't appear to be possible if they want an outsider.

For more:
- here's the article

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