With one month to go before CEO Ken Lewis' retirement, Bank of America has yet to decide on his successor. What's taking the directors in charge of the process so long?  A lack of candidates could be part of the problem. It's hard to get excited about leading a company as vast as Bank of America ( BAC - news - people ) and held as tightly under government scrutiny, many say. The bank has yet to repay $45 billion of taxpayer money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and as such has to abide by strict pay limits and other rules set by the federal government, a deterrent to potential chief executives. A further damper is the possibility that the government will force the bank to sell off units.  On Friday, when everyone was busy chasing bargains at Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ), Bank of America filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing pay cuts for two of its top executives.  Joe Price, the chief financial officer who was deeply involved in the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, and Barbara Desoer, the head of mortgage lending, have been viewed as top contenders to succeed Lewis. Yet aside from Lewis, who forfeited his $1.5 million pay this year, they are the only two at Bank of America so far whose salaries have been cut by the federal pay czar.  Price and Desoer will each receive a salary of $500,000, down from $800,000 in 2008. They will also get stock awards in place of cash salary worth $5 million and $3.9 million, respectively, which they can't cash in until 2011 at the earliest. They had to agree to limits on perks of $25,000.  Price and Desoer are two of the top five paid company officers, as listed in the annual proxy. Lewis is another. Two others, Bruce Hammond, former head of card services, and Liam McGee, former head of consumer banking, left the company in the last year. They each received $800,000 in salary in 2008.  A Bank of America spokesman said, "The selection process is continuing, internal and external candidates are being considered and a decision will be made in the near future."  Some prominent outsiders have let it be known they aren't on the short list, including Robert Kelly, chief executive of Bank of New York Mellon ( BK - news - people ), who said publicly earlier this month he isn't interested, and Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey (and formerly of Goldman Sachs ( GS - news - people )), who said he hadn't been contacted about the job after losing his re-election bid.  The board is believed to have narrowed its list of internal candidates to Brian Moynihan, head of the consumer bank, who has held a variety of top roles at the company since it bought his former employer, FleetBoston Financial, in 2004, and Gregory Curl, the chief risk officer.  Richard Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities, says the government, which already pressed for a board revamp at the company, seems to be pressing for a breakup of the company a la Citigroup ( C - news - people ), and that is driving away potential Lewis successors as well. Citi is in the process of selling off or separating several businesses, including mortgage lending, to focus on its stated "core" businesses: commercial and corporate banking and retail banking.  Bank of America is a similarly large behemoth that has grown and diversified by acquisition, the boldest of which were its two last: Countrywide Financial followed by Merrill Lynch. But it has had to go to the government more than once for assistance. Lewis lost his chairman title after an angry shareholder vote in April. Since then 10 directors have left the board, with six new members named.  A succession plan put in place by the old board of directors was scuttled after the new directors came on board, the latest one in September, Bove says. The new board, consisting of more experienced financial executives than the old board, has developed a schism with management over how the company should be run, Bove said in a Nov. 19 research note.  This coupled with government restrictions explains the board's conundrum. "It would mean less money, less authority and the need to be scrutinized by the politicos," Bove says. "Not a good deal."
With the promise of lower pay and tight political oversight, it's no wonder the bank hasn't found a successor for Ken Lewis yet.