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Justin Grant
Justin Grant
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Civil War Brewing Between Merrill Lynch and BofA?

Merrill Lynch had a solid year, but is seeing smaller bonuses this year due to Bank of America’s terrible 2011, Fox Business Reports.

Are Merrill Lynch and its parent company Bank of America on the brink of a civil war? According to Fox Business correspondent Charlie Gasparino , Merrill Lynch's employees are basically paying for Bank of America's woes with their 2011 bonus checks.

In light if this, he says there are rumblings that folks at Merrill Lynch want their unit to be spun off by Bank of America.

2011 has been a year to forget at Bank of America. The second-largest U.S. bank in terms of assets has seen its shares fall sharply in the wake of staggering losses, billions of dollars in toxic assets on its books, and mounting legal liabilities. Earlier this fall the firm said it would be forced to cut 30,000 jobs and slash annual expenses by a whopping $5 billion.

Its dreadful condition is apparently filtering its way down to Merrill Lynch, where Gasparino says bonuses are down 40 percent on a year-over-year basis. But what has employees so up in arms, Gasparino reports, is Merrill Lynch actually had a solid year.

"When you break it down it looks even worse; the fixed income department, down 60 percent year-over-year," a source told Gasparino. He added that "sources inside the firm say the equities department is down 40 percent." For brokers in the client division, the bonuses are even worse, "down something like 17 percent," Gaspario reported.

As the Senior Editor of Advanced Trading, Justin Grant plays a key role in steering the magazine's coverage of the latest issues affecting the buy-side trading community. Since joining Advanced Trading in 2010, Grant's news analysis has touched on everything from the latest ... View Full Bio
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