Boards are intimately involved when it comes time to transition CEOs, the most prepared boards have detailed plans in hand. But recent activity in the banking industry suggests that boards perhaps should be more involved, and more forthcoming, when it comes other executive changes.

A great example comes from Wells Fargo, where CFO Howard Atkins abruptly retired in February, citing personal reasons. The bank has yet to provide an adequate explanation, even as the move raised lots of red flags. Analysts continue to ask about the incident.

More recently, Bank of America has been accused by a CNBC journalist of "playing games with shareholders" with its hiring of Gary Lynch as chief legal officer. Ed O'Keefe remains the general counsel but now reports to Lynch, a situation deemed a "charade." O'Keefe, in fact, is widely expected to step down at some point soon. The off coming of Lynch has led to "insider sniping," a distraction for the new hire. Would it have been better if CEO Brian Moynihan and the board made a cleaner break?

And then there's the transition of Chuck Noski to vice chairman of Bank of America, as Chief Risk Officer Bruce Thompson was named to replace Noski as CFO; he was on the job less than a year. The move followed a flap caused by reports that Noski had not vetted a disclosure about how the Fed had blocked the bank's plans to raise dividends. That raised a few brows.

In interviews, Noskli did not discuss the illness in his family led him to remain in California, rather than relocate to Charlotte to be CFO. Normally, this would have been accepted no questions asked. But in this environment, brows tend to arch. While the bank worked hard to sort out the issues in the media, it was certainly another distraction.

These are all reminders that boards need to spend some time working through the optics of significant executive shifts.

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