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GMAC Financial Services, the former lending arm of General Motors, replaced its chief executive on Monday as it negotiated for another round of bailout financing from the federal government.

The company appointed Michael A. Carpenter, a former Citigroup executive and current GMAC director, to succeed Alvaro de Molina, who had run the company since April 2008. Carpenter said the board felt he would be more appropriate as chief executive than de Molina, who resigned.

GMAC said it had asked the Treasury Department to postpone a decision on more aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program until the new management team had “assessed the current situation and can advise the board and Treasury regarding the appropriate amount and form of such funding.’’

GMAC already has received $12.5 billion from the government, which now owns almost 35 percent of the company, but was expected to ask for as much as $5.6 billion more this month. This year, the Treasury told GMAC that based on the results of stress tests to evaluate its liquidity, it must raise $11.5 billion in capital by the end of November.

GMAC, a 90-year-old auto and home lender that converted to a bank holding company last year to qualify for bailout funds, is the only bank of the 19 subjected to the stress tests that has been unable to borrow capital from private investors.

“We don’t see any need for the maximum amount of capital that Treasury was anticipating putting in,’’ Carpenter, 62, said in an interview. “The $5.6 billion is off the table. What the exact number is, I don’t know.’’

Carpenter said GMAC’s board was not pressured by regulators to request de Molina’s resignation.

GMAC is the primary lender to dealers of GM and Chrysler, and it provides financing to customers of both automakers as well. The company lost $5.3 billion in the first nine months of the year.

Carpenter said he wanted GMAC to provide a financial backbone to a revitalized GM and Chrysler and to be able to repay most, if not all, of its financial lifelines.

Many of GMAC’s problems were created by subprime lending at its home lending unit, which racked up hundreds of millions in losses.

The company’s trouble was compounded by a severe slump in auto sales and a tightening of credit markets that in late 2008 virtually eliminated GMAC as a financing source for GM customers.

AP