Bank of America forcing out risk chief after bailout

Bank of America Corp is forcing out Chief Risk Officer Amy Woods Brinkley, after a surge in credit losses led to a government bailout and orders by regulators to raise $33.9 billion of capital.

The largest U.S. bank on Thursday named Gregory Curl to replace Brinkley, 52, whom it said joined the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender in 1978 and has been in her current job since 2001.

Curl, 60, has also worked for the bank for 31 years, most recently as global corporate strategic development and planning executive. He will succeed Brinkley on June 30, and Brinkley will retire from the bank this summer.

Bank of America has struggled with rising credit losses, including in its credit card unit, and a difficult integration of Merrill Lynch & Co, which it acquired on January 1.

Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis has accepted $45 billion of federal bailout funds, and was ordered last month after a government stress test to raise the $33.9 billion to withstand a potentially deep recession.

Ken Lewis and Amy mutually decided we needed a different approach to risk management, spokesman Robert Stickler said in a statement.

Stickler said Curl's focus will be on credit underwriting. We're going into a much different environment, and we need to adjust accordingly, the spokesman said. He said the change was decided by management, with no government involvement.

The executives were unavailable for immediate comment.

Shares of Bank of America rose 56 cents, or 5 percent, to $11.77 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel)