Merrill Lynch!

Sep 15, 2008 12:36 am
Well, I'm here to receive my lashes.  I have been the biggest Merrill Lynch cheerleader, and thought we would never be bought.    Wow, I was wrong.  So, let me have it, all you Indy's now's the time for the "I told you so's" you guys were definitely right.    Guess, I will start putting my resume together, anyone have any suggestions?
Sep 15, 2008 1:09 am

I don’t think anyone is in the mood for “I told you so”.   Good Luck.

Sep 15, 2008 1:38 am

What’s going to happen to all you ML guys?  Will you now all be bank brokers?  Is there a silver lining in this?  Perhaps access to banking clients?  Wow.

Sep 15, 2008 10:25 am

Wait around to see the retention package.

In the meantime shop LPL, RJ, Commonweath et al..   ML was offering the best recruitment deals on the street recently...how would you feel if you joined them in the past year from another wirehouse & now you find yourself working for a bank?
Sep 15, 2008 3:24 pm

I know a guy who left LPL last year to go to Merrill. I haven’t talked to him, but when he left LPL, MER was trading in the 80’s!  So, I hope his bonus was mostly cash and not stock or options.

  Also, I assume that BofA will close a lot of the little Merrill shops (the five to ten man offices). Any thoughts?
Sep 15, 2008 4:18 pm

There’s no question that offices will close and consolidation will happen.  Bankers do not like brokers and will decimate what we know as mighty Merrill Lynch.  Look at what happened with Piper Jaffray after being purchased by US Bank corp. 

  Not good for Merrill brokers if you're production is less than $300,000.  
Sep 15, 2008 5:01 pm

[quote=Broker Fee]Wait around to see the retention package.

In the meantime shop LPL, RJ, Commonweath et al..   ML was offering the best recruitment deals on the street recently...how would you feel if you joined them in the past year from another wirehouse & now you find yourself working for a bank?[/quote]   I am good friends with a 25-year advisor at Morgan.  He just left to go to Merrill last Friday.  $125mm book.  Yes, the sale was a good thing for both Merrill and BAC, but try convincing clients of that.  Talk about bad timing.  I can't wait to talk to him....
Sep 15, 2008 5:04 pm

[quote=apprentice]There’s no question that offices will close and consolidation will happen.  Bankers do not like brokers and will decimate what we know as mighty Merrill Lynch.  Look at what happened with Piper Jaffray after being purchased by US Bank corp. 

  Not good for Merrill brokers if you're production is less than $300,000.  [/quote]   Not the same thing.  This is not one BD swallowing another.  BAC doesn't really have a true BD network.  They just have in-house brokers.  It will look just like Citi/Smith Barney.  Citi still has bank brokers, and SB is independant of them.  It will be a good thing for Merrill and BAC.  There will be a lot of back-office & I-banking layoffs, however.