In addition to naming the 46-year-old Thompson as CFO, Moynihan said that Gary Lynch, 60 would serve as global chief of legal, compliance, and regulatory relations, a newly created position. General counsel Ed O'Keefe will report to Lynch, who will be based in New York and report to Moynihan.

Lynch joins Bank of America from Morgan Stanley, where he is currently its London-based vice chairman. He was previously chief legal officer for the firm, and held senior leadership positions at Credit Suisse and Credit Suisse First Boston. He also served as director of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The morning of key management announcements was also a morning for BofA . The company said it earned $2 billion, or 17 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter, down from $3.2 billion, or 28 cents, a year earlier. In the most-recent fourth quarter, BofA had reported a net loss of $1.2 billion, or 16 cents per diluted share. It said the latest results were positively affected by lower credit costs, gains from equity investments, and higher asset management fees and investment banking fees. Partially offset those factors, though, were higher legacy mortgage-related costs, higher litigation expenses, and lower sales and trading revenue from the record levels reported in the first quarter of 2010.

"Strong growth in deposit balances and positive contributions from five of our six businesses reflect the steady improvement in the broader economy," Moynihan said. "Our customer-focused strategy is working well, and we also benefited from improved credit quality. While still soft, the economy is healing; we see retail spending up versus the year-ago period and continued declines in bankruptcy filings and delinquency rates."