Merrill Lynch’s head of global wealth-management Americas, Mac Gardner, will leave the business at the end of the month.

Merrill Lynch’s head of global wealth-management Americas, Mac Gardner, will leave the business at the end of the month, Robert McCann, president of Global Wealth Management told staff in an internal memo late on Friday. No replacement has been announced. Mr Gardner is also a senior vice president and head of the Global Bank Group. “Mac has been a valued colleague and has made significant contributions to several areas of Merrill Lynch throughout his career,” the memo attained by WealthBriefing stated. Mr Gardner joined the firm in 1983 as an analyst in investment banking, he was named head of US Private Client Strategic Business Initiatives in 2000 and in 2003, according to the memo. He was appointed chief operating officer of Global Wealth Management before taking the sole head of GWM's Americas Region post in 2004. He served as chairman of the board of directors of Merrill Lynch Bank USA until early 2007. New chief executive and chairman John Thain took over the Wall Street brokerage business from the departing Stan O'Neal on 1 December last year. Further job cuts are reported to be in the pipeline following the $8 billion write-downs the firm announced in November related to US subprime mortgage investments. Merrill Lynch also said it planned to announce its fourth-quarter and full year results on January 17.