Strategy

BoA To Remove Merrill Lynch Brand From Some Units - Report

Tom Burroughes Group Editor 26 February 2019

BoA To Remove Merrill Lynch Brand From Some Units - Report

The changes are taking place a decade on from when BoA bought Merrill Lynch in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

Bank of America is to remove the name Merrill Lynch from some of its business units, with the change coming after buying the famous brand a decade ago at the height of the financial crisis, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The North Carolina-based bank intends to stop using the Merrill Lynch name for its trading and investment banking operations, the newspaper said, citing comments from executives. And the bulk of its wealth management business will be renamed as Merrill.

“We are continuing to unify the company, continuing down the road we started on a decade ago,” chief executive Brian Moynihan told the WSJ.

The Merrill Lynch moniker dates back to when the firm was created in 1914 by Charles Merrill, joined soon thereafter by his friend Edmund Lynch.

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