Bank of America Corp should look for a new chief executive outside of the company, a shareholder that has criticized the current management in the past said on Wednesday.

The Finger Interest Number One, controlled by the Finger family, said neither Chief Risk Officer Greg Curl nor the head of the consumer banking unit Brian Moynihan should be chosen to succeed CEO Kenneth Lewis, who said last week that he will leave the company by year-end.

The Finger family sold Charter Bancshares Inc to Bank of America's predecessor NationsBank in 1996 and controls about 1.1 million shares of the bank.

Both Curl, 61, and Moynihan, 49, have been mentioned as the most likely candidates within Bank of America to replace Lewis.

Finger Interest said Curl and Moynihan were part of the management that led Bank of America to big credit losses, a troubled acquisition of brokerage Merrill Lynch, and a $45 billion bailout of the U.S. government.

Finger Interest in recent months has campaigned against the re-election of Lewis as chairman and chief executive of the largest U.S. bank.

A six-member committee, led by Bank of America chairman Walter Massey, is evaluating candidates to succeed Lewis.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio)

Bank of america Merrill Lynch