The CEO search at Bank of America (BAC) was languishing so severely, the board had to pull out all the stops to pay of TARP. And that has indeed breathed new life into the search process. While the two inside candidates--Greg Curl and Brian Moynihan--seemed to have the upper hand just a week ago, the TARP gambit seems to be paying off.

MarketWatch reports that Robert Kelly, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon, is back in the running. He has apparently informed his board of the negotiations. My guess is that we'll see some other candidates step back into the picture. Kelly and Barclay's Robert Diamond, former New Jersey governor Robert Corzine and Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock may all get a call soon to gauge their interest, given the TARP development. Right now, you would have to say that an outsider is most likely the next CEO. 

For more:
- here's the MarketWatch article

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