Bob vs. BofA

Kenny Lewis and the boys over at Bank of America just cannot catch a break regarding that little Merrill Lynch acquisition. Following the blocking of its SEC settlement (regulators recently said, “Not so fast, Kenny!”), now it appears that superstar brokerage chief "What About" Bob McCann, who formerly led the once independent and mighty but now simply sort of mighty Merrill Lynch wealth management business, is close to settling with BofA out of court, in effect winning his case against the firm.

Bob’s case centers on a non-compete clause in his contract, and the law seems to be on his side. When BofA failed to accept Bob’s resignation soon after swallowing Merrill, the bank canned him without reason, thus voiding his non-compete agreement.

You might ask, who the heck cares? To which anyone close to the matter will answer: Ken Lewis and the boys at BofA, of course. Thing is, Bob is seconds away from signing his name to another contract: one with Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s largest wealth management competitor: UBS.