NEW YORK (TheStreet) – Financial shares declined along with the broader market Tuesday as Wall Street awaited any signal out of Charlotte, N.C. — and Bank of America’s(BAC Quote) board meeting there — that could offer hints about the direction of the megabank’s CEO-search.

U.S. equities were weaker in the early going, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 92 points, and the S&P 500 dropping 9 points. President Obama is slated to present a major economic policy speech later in the morning.
Bank of America’s search for a boss to succeed the outgoing Ken Lewis has been marked by mystery and oddity. Most recently, one of the purported leading candidates, Bank of America’s chief risk officer, Greg Curl, is apparently now under investigation by the hawkish New York attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, for comments Curl made during testimony last month concerning the Merrill Lynch dustup.

Bank of America shares led financial names lower Tuesday morning. The stock was trading at $15.72, down 1.1%.

Despite the pitfalls of its CEO search, Bank of America is suddenly the envy of the too-big-to-fail universe as more TARP drama shrouded the financial sector Tuesday. Bank of America, after all, was able to convince the government that its capital-raising plan would allow it to afford a TARP exit.

Not so Citigroup(C Quote) or Wells Fargo(WFC Quote), at least not yet. Both are embroiled in talks with the feds, attempting to satisfy regulators that the firms have can raise enough capital to provide a liquidity cushion should the bailout money be removed from their books.

Wells Fargo’s chief, John Stumpf, speaking at a conference held by Goldman Sachs(GS Quote) in New York Tuesday morning, once again emphasized the bank’s desire to get out from under the government’s thumb.

“From our perspective we want to repay TARP as soon as practical and in a shareholder friendly way,” he said. “But, as you know, this is a two-party agreement.”
Stumpf provided no details about how, exactly, Wells would raise the capital needed to satisfy regulators.

Tuesday morning, Wells shares were moving at $26.32, down three pennies, while Citigroup shares were at $4.01, down 0.5%. JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote), meanwhile, saw its stock price slip 0.8% to $40.91.

Elsewhere, Morgan Stanley(MS Quote) announced a management reshuffling, moves spurred by the firm’s soon-to-be CEO, James Gorman, who will take the reins from John Mack on Jan. I.

Morgan’s finance chief, Colm Kelleher, and its top M&A man, Paul Tauban, will take charge of the firm’s “institutional securities” unit, shorthand for Morgan’s cash cows: the investment banking division and its trading desk.

Morgan Stanley shares were trading at $30.30, down 0.3%; Goldman Sachs’s stock was moving at $162.26, down 1%.

Across the pond, London-based financial names had a tough day after Britain’s own public finances came under scrutiny (of course, so did the U.S.’s) by Moody’s(MCO Quote), which said the nations’ sovereign ratings could require a revision due to the massive debt each has taken on to pay for economic stimulus.

RBS(RBS Quote), meanwhile, one of the largest underwriters of loans to Dubai World — and, perhaps not coincidentally, the largest beneficiary of bailout aid of any company in the world — saw its stock continue to plunge in both London and New York. The real-estate arm of the troubled Dubai fund posted huge losses on the write-down of assets, according to Bloomberg.
American depositary receipts of the Scottish bank were trading Tuesday in New York at $10.10, down 6.7%. Barclay’s(BCS Quote) ADRs, meanwhile, were at $18.94, down 3%.

– Written by Scott Eden in New York

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