merrill's

He would be responsible for planning and executing the merger of Merrill's banking and trading business with that of BofA.

By early summer, however, with Merrill's share price continuing to fall, there was no evidence of a turnaround.

Merrill's share price fell sharply and other Wall Street bank shares suffered on fears that there was more pain to come.

A possible deal would involve protecting Bank of America from Merrill's bad assets by capping the bank's potential losses from them.

A portion of the bank's net holdings are valued in line with Merrill's sale price.

That didn't prevent a tough interrogation by analysts who wondered why Merrill's estimate of its losses a few weeks ago was so far off.

The following April, Merrill bankers e-mail Merrill's president, complaining about being shut out of an Enron stock offering.

But Merrill's wobbly balance sheet forced the bank to seek a government bail-out.

And reassurances that the due diligence performed on Merrill's books had been rigorous, despite the rush, look risible.

Just as important, Merrill's brokers are, once again, held in high regard by those who use them.

Is it any wonder that Merrill's board was reluctant to have CEO candidates examine the bank's books?

By selling to BofA, Merrill's executives knew that the days of multi-million-dollar bonus payments would come to an end.

Until the fund was launched three years ago, Merrill's investments in real-estate funds involved only its own money.

It requested a further $20bn at the end of December as the scale of Merrill's losses eclipsed BofA's initial forecasts.

But as Merrill's $2. 3 billion third-quarter loss demonstrated, O'Neal and his team never had a handle on the risks of subprime lending.

Distinguished though Merrill's board was, it was hardly chock-a-block with expertise on banking and risk.

CICC estimates consumer prices rose 4. 5 percent in December from a year earlier, while Merrill's forecast is 4. 8 percent.

The entity will be run by Robert McCann, the head of Merrill's global wealth management business.

Just weeks earlier, the CDOs had been valued at $11bn on Merrill's balance sheet.

Other big banks also may need to reassess their CDO holdings in light of Merrill's sale.

If Mr Lewis's grip on his job looks tenuous, his bank's grip on Merrill's talent is equally shaky.

A China hard landing could cause "significant" portfolio losses, BofA-Merrill's Chua said.

But Olson said everyone knew his negative view on Enron was hurting Merrill's banking business.

All 106 employees were transferred to the new facility, which has expanded Merrill's production and warehouse space.

"We have an amber warning light flashing, " Patrik Schoewitz, BofA Merrill's European equity strategist, said of the finding.

Baffled, he emailed Robert Passanisi, the historian and chairman of Merrill's Marauders Association.

It's also clear that BofA knew all about the size and scope of Merrill's risky assets.

Also, the CDO sale didn't actually remove all the risk from Merrill's shoulders.

Meanwhile, Merrill's strongest unit, its 16, 000 investment advisers, would fill a gaping hole in BofA's product offerings.

At Morgan Stanley, 61% is short-term, while this kind of debt is 55% of Merrill's borrowings. Goldman's ratio is 49%.

Merrill's net revenue fell by $23 billion in 2008, leading to a huge net loss.

Merrill's 15, 000 brokers will be combined with Bank of America's smaller group of wealth advisers.

Based on Friday's closing prices, the offer is the equivalent of $29 per share and 1. 8 times Merrill's stated tangible book value.

Merrill's share price fell 78 per cent last year before the stock was delisted and the investment bank was taken over by Bank of America.

Design of System on Teaching of E-Commerce Major of Higher Vocational Education Based on Merrill's First Principles of Instruction