April, 15, 2010

Bank of America Corp. confirmed the hiring of 57-year-old Charles Noski as its new chief financial officer, with supporters lauding the choice of an outsider despite his shortage of commercial-banking experience."He will learn what he needs to learn quickly and will bring experience that will be valuable for that institution," said J. Michael Cook, a retired chairman and chief executive of accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, where Mr. Noski was a partner.

The new finance chief at the nation's largest bank in assets could bring a "fresh view" and "open mind," said analyst John McDonald of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. On the other hand, some investors do have concerns about "the lack of experience working inside banks and being in charge of a huge bank balance sheet, charged with navigating credit risk and interest rate risk."UBS Investment Research analyst Glenn Schorr said many investors expected Bank of America to hire a finance chief from elsewhere in the banking industry. Mr. Noski's "learning curve will be steep," Mr. Schorr said.

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