The good news: Bank of America has ousted its chief risk officer. The bad news: Bank of America has replaced her with Greg Curl, who oversaw the acquisition not only of Merrill Lynch but also of Countrywide, which was run fraudulently (according to the SEC) by Angelo Mozilo. Some risk management there.

Curl is a dealmaker, not a risk-management professional; he’s also far too close to senior management, and far too invested in prior strategic decisions, to effectively serve in his new role. The choice of Curl is an atrocious one, and I hope that BofA’s regulators are making their displeasure known in no uncertain terms.

Update: Matt Goldstein gets a great quote out of a BofA spokesman:

Robert Stickler, a bank spokesman, says people are more than free to question the promotion of Curl but to refer to him as a crony or confidant of Lewis is silly. “This just shows how much you don’t know. Greg has been Mr. Outsider at the bank for years,” he said.

Which only raises the question: What on earth was Mr Outsider doing being charged with buying Countrywide and Merrill?