Pleasetell me Keith Banks is not coming back to replace Dan Sontag…I couldn’t sleep last night…note to ML brokers…we’re in real trouble if this guy get’s the job…he knows less than nothing about our business and has underperformed in every role he has been put in…he MUST have pictures of Ken Lewis in a short black dress!

Banks is the rumor. European retail brokerage model is being considered. This rumor has been out there for  months and won't go away. Glad I left. Good luck...

I know I will get slack for this, but NO WAY NEVER HAPPEN. They will never pay salaries to people more than what the CEO makes.   

[quote=cutacheck]I know I will get slack for this, but NO WAY NEVER HAPPEN. They will never pay salaries to people more than what the CEO makes.   [/quote]

You will get flak for saying “slack” instead of “flak”, retard.

Well, it looks like at least the first part of this original thread (the one about Sontag leaving soon) turned out to be true, after all.  I think it is funny how vehemently BofA management denied this “rumor”, calling it “absolute fiction” “completely without merit”, only to have them be proven to be the liars after all.  I’m shocked and disappointed to learn that you cannot trust what corporate banking executives say in public comments (and I’m of course being sarcastic with that last sentence).

I started this thread and I’ll add to it with at least one of the ‘official’ news articles validating Sontag was on his way out weeks ago and indeed he’s gone.  Not tooting my own horn, it just takes keeping one’s antennae up.

OMAR… read your post again.

And this was supposedly just a nasty rumor… read back through the posts here!!! 

Sontag told managers of Merrill’s financial advisers he is retiring
during a conference call on Tuesday. Sontag, 53, has led the thousands
of Merrill brokers since January, when Merrill was taken over by Bank
of America. He’s been with the brokerage for 32 years.

The news
comes a day after Bank of America announced a series of executive
changes, including the appointment of former Citigroup Finance Chief
Sallie Krawcheck to run its global wealth and investment management
operation. Sontag, who would have reported to Krawcheck, expressed his
support for her and asked his team to support her as she takes the
helm, a source said.

The bank, which received $45 billion in bailout money, is under pressure from the federal government to improve its performance.

Very sad.  BofA has castrated the bull.

I'm a BAI guy but I can't believe how piss poor BAC's execs are handling the change of leadership for the advisory platform which is the chief reason merrill was bought. I've been listening to this crap about how seemless the merger is going to be and how fast it is happening over the course of a year, where Citi was never able to integrate Smith Barney,Primerica,Citi Advisor for over 10 years. Hence, it only makes since for Ken Lewis to run off the people from the firm he acquired and hire Sally Krawcheck from CITI, because she was so successful the last time around.

Yup…I stand corrected burtonfinancial…



Could care less at this point though…it’s just rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

Mr. T (I mean Omar), tell me more about yout Titanic theory.  Are you projecting your own pitfalls (maybe small wee-wee), or do you have reason to be upset?

I still remember the blast email AND emergency conference call to refute the article as soon as it came out.  Kind of funny looking back on it now.  Management has so little credibility left, anyway.  And the mid-level BAI managers will soon be replaced with Merrill managers so I'm not sure if they even care what happens.

I cannot understand how any one who works at a wire or a big bank can believe anything that management says!

I’d be interested in hearing opinions on this… seems to me that whatever was left of the old school Merrill culture is going to be decimated under the new regime.

I’m sure there’ll be plenty of comments about this line in the article…“Adding Sallie is stunning,” said Nancy Bush at NAB Research LLC. "She comes with a taint from Citigroup."

been on the job at Bank of America Corp. a full day and outsiders were
already debating how good a fit she will be — and whether anyone knows
what a good fit there is anymore.

BofA made several executive
moves this week, but the hiring of Krawcheck — a former Citigroup Inc.
executive who joined B of A Tuesday to run its wealth management and
brokerage operation — drew the most attention. Observers familiar with
Krawcheck, as well as her current and former employers, said her
selection underscores the cultural change underway at BofA.

Bringing
a former competitor into the corporate suite before they prove
themselves internally runs afoul of long-standing philosophies held by
Kenneth D. Lewis, BofA’s chief executive, and predecessor Hugh McColl
Jr.

“To those who know the industry and Bank of America, this is
a bizarre appointment,” said D. Anthony Plath, a finance professor at
the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Marshall Front,
the chairman of Front Barnett Associates Inc., a Chicago investment
firm, agreed. "This is another chink in Ken’s armor and another
indication that management isn’t as strong in its position as they
would like you to believe. We are migrating from a company where Lewis
ruled with an iron fist."

Observers said the mantra at BofA has
long been “inclusive meritocracy,” where ambitious executives had to
prove themselves to top management by producing profits and repeatedly
showing loyalty to the company.

High-level promotions
traditionally were given to those who came up through BofA’s ranks or
made an impact after joining from an acquired institution. Rarely did
an outsider immediately start in the inner circle, as is the case with
Krawcheck, observers said.

"It would be totally opposite the
culture of Bank of America to bring someone in — particularly from Citi
— to run a major business without having them prove themselves first,"
Plath said. "Who did this? Is it the board or the government? Perhaps
it is a little of both."

Lewis explained the practice in an
American Banker interview last fall, using himself as an example of
someone who joined a predecessor firm in 1969 and earned a chance to
run BofA more than three decades later. “I sensed within the company
that you would be given the opportunity to reach your full potential
and it wouldn’t matter where you went to school or who your parents
were,” he said.

"I was given a chance to live up to my full
potential. That’s one of the reasons we have as one of our goals and
values is to be an inclusive meritocracy. I have been a part of that …
and I owe that to every associate in this company going forward."

Robert
Stickler, a spokesman for BofA, said Tuesday that Krawcheck’s hiring is
consistent with the company’s ideals. “I think the outsiders’
interpretation of inclusive meritocracy is wrong,” he said. "It means
that people within the company are treated fairly in line with the
value they bring. It also means they have a fair chance to go where
their talent and hard work takes them. The concept does not preclude
the company from hiring talented outsiders."

The company said Krawcheck was in meetings and unavailable for an interview.

Stickler
reiterated that the management moves were made by Lewis in consultation
with the board, which has been largely reconstituted in the past seven
months. He said the government was not involved, though the
government’s stress-test process required the company to review
management.

Still, some observers questioned why B of A would
choose Krawcheck, given her association with Citi and former CEO
Charles Prince, who was ousted in late 2007. Lewis has spent months
this year trying to cast his company in a different light from Citi,
though both have received $45 billion in government capital since last
fall. Her hiring runs the risk of drawing more comparisons, some said.

Observers
have mixed views about Krawcheck’s career at Citi, where she ascended
from running the brokerage unit to becoming chief financial officer
under Prince in less than three years. Her career ended on a down note,
first being moved from the top financial post to running wealth
management, then relinquishing that post last fall after reportedly
clashing with Vikram Pandit, who had replaced Prince, over compensating
clients for bad investments in areas such as auction-rate securities.

“Adding Sallie is stunning,” said Nancy Bush at NAB Research LLC. "She comes with a taint from Citigroup."

Many believe her to be skillful at running brokerage operations but shaky when given responsibility in other areas.

“She
is a smart executive but, as CFO, she failed in her job,” said Guarav
Patankar, a managing partner at 360 Global Partners Inc. who worked as
a Citi analyst while Krawcheck was at the company. He placed the blame
mostly on Citi’s management structure at the time, where it was often
unclear, with personalities such as Robert Rubin, Sanford Weill and
Prince around, who was handling strategic direction.

This is rather sad…



Soon there will be nothing left of Merrill…just Bank of America…sad. Even for competitors, there is nobody left. MSSB may not be perfect but no one else is left (UBS will be gone soon)…

Those of us that have been in this business for sometime, knew they were dinosaurs now there time has come.

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Relics not to be missed.

[quote=Greenbacks]I cannot understand how any one who works at a wire or a big bank can believe anything that management says!

Those of us that have been in this business for sometime, knew they were dinosaurs now there time has come.Relics not to be missed.

FYI- BAI FA’s are going to ML comp structure.

You have no idea what you are talking about. “October is doomsday…?” Now you are just making stuff up.

[quote=Greenbacks]Sorry, but my heart will never bleed for a ML rep!  Most of them have ego’s the size of Texas. Makes you want to puke when you would talk to them.