US investment firm Merrill Lynch is in talks with former Goldman Sachs senior executive Peter Kraus about a job overseeing strategy at Merrill, Bloomberg said, citing unnamed sources. Mr Kraus, who left Goldman in March after almost 22 years at the company, was most recently co-head of its asset management division. He did not respond to a request for comment and Merrill has declined to comment. John Thain, Merrill's chairman and chief executive officer since December, is recruiting former colleagues from Goldman, where he worked for about 25 years, as he seeks to restore profitability after three consecutive quarterly losses. Mr Thain announced on 28 April that he had hired Goldman's former US trading chief, Thomas Montag, to run Merrill's global sales and trading operation. In a memo to employees yesterday, Mr Thain said he had formed a 10-person management committee to foster "teamwork, collaboration and cross-selling." Committee members include wealth management head Robert McCann. Merrill's management ranks have thinned since Mr Thain took over as chief executive on 1 December last year.