After taking way too long to send CEO Ken Lewis packing, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is now taking way too long to find a successor.

Charlie Gasparino reports that "The board of directors of Bank of America is likely to delay a much-anticipated announcement of a replacement for CEO Ken Lewis until next week, an effort people close to the bank say, to conduct a wide-ranging search for the bank's next leader and appease some investors and analysts who want an experienced outsider to replace Lewis."

The problem is that Bank of America is having trouble finding qualified outside candidates -- because few sane people have a desire to walk into the mess that the current regime at the company has created.

If you've become comfortable with the current state of the housing market ... don't. Economists at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Bank of America's Merrill Lynch (NYSE: BAC) say there's still plenty of risk in the housing market.

Alec Phillips, the head of Goldman's Washington office, said, "The risk of renewed home price declines remains significant." His "working assumption" is a drop of between 5% and 10% by the middle of next year.

Tuesday morning greeted us with earnings from banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM). The company said it earned $3.59 billion and that it nearly doubled the amount of money it saved for loan losses in the third quarter.

Breaking the results down into per-share earnings, JPM trounced the consensus estimate. The bank earned 82 cents per share, nearly double the expected 49 cents per share. Quarterly revenue increased to $26.62 billion from last year's same-quarter revenue of $14.74 billion.

Starting your own business? Need some extra space for your needlepoint habit? You're in luck ... office space comes cheap these days. In fact, rent for office space is sliding lower at the fastest rate since 1995. In the third quarter, office rents dropped 8.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Falling prices typically go hand in hand with falling demand and in fact, vacancies are on the rise as layoffs increase. New York-based real-estate research firm Reis says the office vacancy rate has hit a five-year high of 16.5%. Last quarter, tenants returned 19.6 million square feet of commercial rental space to their landlords.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the top two in-house candidates to succeed CEO Ken Lewis on an interim basis: "The inside candidates are Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Chief Risk Officer Gregory Curl and Brian Moynihan, the Charlotte, N.C., bank's consumer and small-business banking chief, these people said."

That's right: The guy who was chief risk officer when the company went from being one of the most powerful financial titans in the world to being one of America's biggest welfare recipients.

To borrow a line from tennis great John McEnroe, you cannot be serious. Mr. Curl was the lead negotiator for Bank of America during the negotiations to acquire Merrill Lynch. And what a fine job he did, helping the company to overpay badly for a toxic asset that it could have had for a heck of a lot less money a few days later.

In a capitalist society, Milton Friedman and most other economists would tell you, the best way to get rich is to create a lot of value for other people.

But failing that, you can also get really rich destroying value for other people as well. Fortune's Colin Barr reports that Mr. Lewis will exit to $53 million in pension benefits -- which equates to about $3.5 million per year for the rest of his life. People who bought shares in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) when Lewis took over in 2001are still badly in the red on their stake in the company.

Let's dive into the world of breaking news here, as the New York Attorney General's office has decided to mark the one-year anniversary of the financial meltdown by preparing charges against some Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) executives. Reportedly, the charges stem from the failure to disclose details about the company's acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

The Attorney General (Andrew Cuomo) is likely to file charges against the executives because of their failure to alert shareholders to mounting losses and accelerated bonus payments at Merrill. Earlier, a federal district judge rejected a $33-million settlement between BAC and the SEC over the same executive bonuses. This settlement was in relation to the fact that BAC did not inform shareholders of an agreement to pay Merrill Lynch execs billions of dollars worth of bonuses, the deal was struck before BAC acquired Merrill.

A report today in Financial Times suggests that "U.S. regulators put direct pressure on Citigroup (NYSE: C) to replace its finance chief only weeks before his surprise departure." As part of a June-dated agreement with regulatory officials, Citi reportedly agreed to consider replacing CFO Ned Kelly prior to October, says the newspaper. Upon learning of the pact, Kelly tendered his resignation. (He later accepted a new role as the bank's vice chairman.)

Neither Citigroup nor regulatory officials have publicly confirmed or denied the reports of government meddling. However, it would hardly be the first time that the U.S. has clamped down on Citi, in which it now holds a 34% stake. Earlier this year, the banking issue opted not to accept delivery of a new corporate jet, following a rather strong suggestion from President Obama.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC - option chain) shares are rising today on news that the hedge-fund firm Paulson & Co. bought 168 million shares of the stock, now worth $2.7 billion, during the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing. It was the firm's biggest purchase of the quarter, and investors appear to be reading the disclosure as a strong endorsement of the stock, especially since this firm was one of the few that saw the financial trouble coming. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BAC.

BAC opened this morning at $16.66. So far today the stock has hit a low of $16.23 and a high of $16.77. As of 11:45, BAC is trading at $16.73 up 80 cents (5.0%). The chart for BAC looks neutral and S&P gives BAC a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

We have another fly in the ointment. Judge Jed Ratkoff of federal district court refused to approve a $33 million settlement in the SEC vs. Bank of America Corp case.

In the complaint, the SEC had alleged that Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) told investors in the proxy documents for the Merrill Lynch merger that Merrill agreed NOT to award year-end performance bonuses before the merger closed.

The day that we've all been looking forward to with gleeful anticipation has come. The Securities & Exchange Commission has charged Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), that outhouse of commerce, with securities fraud.

Unfortunately, the charges aren't as wide-ranging as they should be, but they're still substantial. The SEC alleges that the company made "false and misleading statements" in the joint proxy statement it filed in connection with the Merrill Lynch merger.

Brokerage house Charles Schwab & Co. (NASDAQ: SCHW) is facing the wrath of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The state's top attorney sent a letter to Schwab last Friday, warning that he plans to sue the firm for civil fraud in relation to its marketing and sales of auction-rate securities (ARS). Cuomo added that he is open to a possible settlement, although Schwab must be willing to repurchase ARS from its investors who are still holding them.

In response, Schwab is defending itself. "The Attorney General's allegations are without merit," stated the brokerage firm. "They unfairly lay blame on our company for an illiquid market and improper behavior by the large Wall Street firms."

In case you needed another reason to hate Countrywide Financial (in which case I can't help you with further proof that we did in fact land on the Moon), here's a good one: Former executive managing director Andrew "Drew" Gissinger III has started a new firm in San Diego, the boom gone bust city where he once played in the National Football League.

His new firm will serve as a real estate broker for bank-owned homes: some of which will doubtless be bank-owned because of bad loans that were made under Mr. Gissinger's watch.

We all know that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is a lousy, incompetently run outhouse of a financial institution. All you have to do is look at the welfare it's received, its stock price, and the fact that its CEO still has a job that doesn't involve cleaning out public bathrooms in mental hospitals.

But now there are new allegations -- on top of many similar old allegations -- that in addition to losing money for its investors, Bank of America also rips off consumers.

What's that? You think that just because you're on welfare, you shouldn't be allowed to charter a jet for a personal vacation? You're un-American!

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "Flight records show numerous occasions when banks receiving federal money have flown their planes to destinations near resorts or executives' vacation homes, including spots in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, south Florida and Aspen, Colo. In some cases, it's clear that bank executives were traveling for personal reasons; for other flights, many of which were over weekends or holidays, the passengers and purpose couldn't be established."

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was one of the "Let's take taxpayer money and book flights to Aspen." "We are implementing a new policy in 2009, under which personal use of aircraft will not be permitted," a spokesperson told the Journal.