After an extensive search, Bank of America on Wednesday announced that an internal candidate, Brian Moynihan, has won the honors and will be taking over as the bank's Chief Executive, an announcement which has put an end to a long and protracted search for someone to take the reins of the troubled bank in their hands after the current Chief, Kenneth Lewis, steps down at year end.

Mr. Moynihan's appointment will be effective January 01, and this will be the first time that the bank will be led by someone who has not come up via ranks at its predecessor facility, the North Carolina National Bank.

50 year old Mr. Moynihan has a background as a lawyer and has been one of the top contenders for the post, although he did face some competition by 61 year old Gregory Curl, Chief Risk Officer of the bank and some outside candidates. He has been a part of the top management at FleetBoston Financial, which was acquired by Bank of America in 2004.

The announcement that Mr. Lewis will be stepping down by year end came in September and since then, the bank has been engaged in the task of looking for an apt replacement.

When asked what vision he has for the bank under his reign, Mr. Moynihan simply said, "What we need to do now is very simple. We need to execute".