ROMAIN LEVESQUE.COM

Merrill is the No. 3 Wall Street firm by revenue, but has a broader
retail brokerage operation than its two larger rivals, Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) and Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500).

Merrill
has cut 4,200 employees, mostly based in the United States, within the
last year as it reorganized operations and tried to stem ongoing
losses. But it still had 60,000 employees worldwide. Despite its
troubles, Merrill still has the most extensive retail brokerage
operations of the major Wall Street firms.

Bank of America’s
statement said with the deal adding Merrill Lynch’s more than 16,000
financial advisers, Bank of America would have the largest brokerage in
the world with more than 20,000 advisers and $2.5 trillion in client
assets.

It also said that based on 2008 results, the combined
companies will be the No. 1 number underwriter of global high yield
debt, the No. 3 underwriter of global equity and the No. 9 adviser on
global mergers and acquisitions.