Kenneth Lewis, CEO of Bank of America - one of the most stable banks during the financial crisis in the last months - recommended to the board no bonuses for him and his other executives, citing poor performance and declining profits as rational.

Bank of America, now the world’s largest bank, has seen five straight quarters of falling profits, still remaining one of the remaining strongest banks in the United States. Acquisition of the investment house giant Merrill Lynch & Co. near the end of 2008 formed the world’s largest bank, holding a number of formerly-sovereign acquisitions, including the credit card giant MBNA, the U.S. Trust, and LaSalle Bank, and over $2.7 trillion U.S. in assets.

In mid-December, the bank announced that it would be trimming employment by nearly 30,000 employees over the next years.

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley at least two of which have had much worse performance than Bank of America in the last year, have all also reduced or rejected their end-of-year bonuses for executives. A number of House of Representatives members have suggested a “no bonuses” rule during the usage of financial industry bailout money, a move designed to protect taxpayers and encourage reduced usage of the available funds without absolute necessity.

Bank of America (BAC) was up 2.15 per cent today, after yesterday’s fall of just over 1 per cent. It currently trades at 14.28.

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