Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. hasn’t found a new leader because the U.S. “vendetta” against Kenneth D. Lewis, the departing chief executive officer, is driving off candidates, analyst Richard Bove said.

The U.S. wants an outsider to succeed Lewis and isn’t getting one because candidates “who have credibility can see no reason to take a post where they may be hounded to be government automatons,” Bove, of Rochdale Securities LLC, wrote in a note to clients dated yesterday.

Bove cited the “frustrations” of Edward Liddy and Robert Benmosche, the two most recent CEOs at New York-based American International Group Inc., which is controlled by the U.S. after a taxpayer-funded bailout. Bank of America is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rick Green in New York at rgreen18@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 13, 2009 09:48 EST