Bank of America Corp investor Jerry Finger and his family is calling on other shareholders to vote to replace Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis as chairman of the board.

The campaign will also call for shareholders to reject the reelection of lead director Temple Sloan and Jackie Ward, chairman of the bank's asset-quality committee.

This group of directors needs to be aware of their duty to shareholders and needs to fulfill that, said Finger's son John Finger, who with his father co-manages Finger Interests, an

investment firm in Houston that primarily manages the family's capital.

The family has had initial discussions with some of Bank of America's large institutional shareholders, John Finger said, adding: They are certainly open to hearing our side of the story.

A longtime shareholder, the Finger family control about 1.5 million Bank of America shares.

Jerry Finger is a long-time shareholder in Bank of America. He founded Houston commercial bank Charter Bancshares, which merged with NationsBank in 1996. NationsBank later acquired BankAmerica Corp to become Bank of America in 1998.

Separately, through Finger Interests Number One, the Fingers have filed a lawsuit in New York charging Bank of America executives and board members with concealing information by failing to disclose losses at Merrill Lynch ahead of a shareholder vote Dec 5.

We have met with (Jerry) Finger several times to hear his concerns and have attempted to address them, a Bank of America spokesman said.

Bank of America shareholders have proposed voting on eight issues at the April 29 annual meeting on subjects including executive pay, the election of board directors, credit card lending practices and whether to replace Lewis as chairman with an independent director.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Andre Grenon)

Bank of america