Four outside directors with experience in banking or financial oversight joined Bank of America's board today, a move aimed to satisfy strong suggestions from federal regulators that the troubled lender improve its corporate governance.

The new members, according to people familiar with the situation, are former Federal Reserve governor Susan Bies; former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman Donald Powell; former Compass Bancshares chief executive D. Paul Jones and former Bank One executive William Boardman. All are in their 60s.