BofA's newly named CEO says won't sell U.S. Trust

Bank of America Corp's successor for retiring Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said on Thursday the company has no plans to sell its U.S. Trust unit.

Brian Moynihan, Bank of America's retail bank chief who was appointed Lewis' successor late Wednesday, told a packed audience of nearly 1,000 bank employees in a downtown Charlotte theater that the bank has no plans to sell the private wealth management unit it purchased in 2006 for $3.3 billion.

Some analysts have speculated that the bank has no need for U.S. Trust after buying Merrill Lynch and its wealth business in early 2009.

The bank sold other business units throughout 2009 as part of its plan to raise capital under the U.S. government's spring stress tests.

In October, Bank of America said it would sell nearly all of Columbia Management to Ameriprise Financial Inc (AMP.N) for roughly $1 billion. That deal is expected to close in 2010.

But Moynihan said U.S. Trust is an important part of the broader bank, which he described as an all-encompassing, global franchise.

There isn't a market we can't transact in, and a place we can't get capital, Moynihan said. (Reporting by Joe Rauch. Editing by Robert MacMillan)