RPT-PREVIEW-BofA investors expect board to name CEO Tuesday

(Repeasts without changes to text)

* Analysts and investors expect an announcement

* Split on internal/external replacement

By Joe Rauch

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec 7 (Reuters) - Analysts and investors expect Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) to name a replacement for retiring Chief Executive Ken Lewis' on Tuesday, ending a search for one of the largest U.S. banks.

Directors of the largest U.S. bank are set to meet at a regularly scheduled monthly board meeting on Tuesday.

The timing is ideal to name a new CEO, coming just days after the bank and the U.S. government agreed to a plan repaying $45 billion in aid, and a few weeks before Lewis' year-end retirement, analysts and investors said.

"I think there's a high probability we'll see something tomorrow," said Jonathan Finger, co-manager of Houston-based Finger Interests Ltd, and one of the bank's most vocal dissident shareholders during the CEO search.

Finger's family owns roughly 1 million shares of Bank of America stock through its own investment firm.

The Fingers have criticized the board's search, saying the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company has not aggressively sought an external candidate.

A Bank of America spokesman confirmed the board meeting, but declined further comment.

On Sept. 30, Lewis -- under fire for his role in Bank of America's controversial takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co -- announced his plans to retire by year's end, and the bank began a search for his successor.

The company publicly identified six senior executives as possible internal successors, including retail bank head Brian Moynihan and Chief Risk Officer Greg Curl, who are now considered two leading inside candidates.

Yet the search became parlor room and water cooler fodder on Wall Street as several well-known external candidates took themselves out of the running, like Bank of New York Mellon's (BK.N) Bob Kelly and BlackRock Corp (BLK.N) Chief Executive and co-founder Laurence Fink.

Media reports attributed the search's struggles, in part, to the increased government oversight that came with the government aid received during the height of the financial crisis, namely the U.S. pay czar's oversight of executive compensation at the bank.

On Dec. 2, Bank of America said it would repay the aid through an $18.8 billion capital raise and a $26.2 billion cash payment.

Curl, who negotiated the bank's Troubled Asset Relief Program aid repayment, is considered the favorite by analysts.

He would easily get regulators' approval because of his role in the bank's recent government talks, and serve as a stop-gap until one of the younger executives distinguished themselves, they said.

"My assumption is that it will be someone from the inside, and Curl doesn't appear to have a lot of political baggage," said Anthony Polini, an analyst with Raymond James Financial Services Inc. (Reporting by Joe Rauch, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)