Merrill Lynch was founded in 1914 by Charles E. Merrill and later joined by Edmund C. Lynch. Owned by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch is an international financial services company. It was taken over by the Bank of America during the global financial meltdown of 2008. The headquarters of the company is located in New York City and is known for having made successful investment decisions even in its early years.

Today, Merrill Lynch is aggressively eyeing young and relatively inexperienced brokers as well as top veteran financial advisers as declared by the firmÕs hiring chief Don Geisler. Currently, Merrill is apparently offering an upfront bonus of 140% of the broker's previous year's income for them whose minimum annual fees and commissions of $800,000. This is because Merrill is giving recognition to the fact that there are phenomenal brokers whose numbers are off because of the market. Also, with the historic collapse and the credit crisis that wiped out a number of storied investment firms, Merrill clearly has lost its foothold as the biggest retail-brokerage firm on the street.

Merrill disputes the notion of desperation, saying it's always interested in adding top-quality brokers to the thundering herd. The aggressive posture comes at a time of turmoil for Merrill. Since BofA acquired it in January, the financial advisory unit's management has been in flux. Its ranks of brokers thinned from 18,000 before the merger to 15,000 at the end of June. Some top producers have jumped to rivals and the company has encouraged lower-producing advisers to move on. In addition to the reps generating $800,000 or more in fees and commissions, Merrill is targeting brokers who range from the first to the third Òquintile,Ó or the top 20% to 60%, in production.

Merrill's main competitor in the financial advisory business, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, had also increased its signing bonus to lure brokers, said the recruiter. Its upfront offer is 160 per cent of the previous year's production, with a similar production-based payment three to five years later.

Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley reduced its upfront signing offer to 100 per cent of the previous year's production, and about two times annual production on the back end.

Because the lower upfront payment was not deemed successful, says the recruiter, Morgan Stanley recently increased the upfront component to 160 per cent of the previous year's production, with a comparable amount on the back end.

The total pay-out of Merrill's package is harder to achieve, so it is difficult to determine whether it or Morgan Stanley is the highest payer.

Just last week, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis tapped Ms. Krawcheck to replace Dan Sontag and run the bank's global wealth and investment management sector.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment on its recruitment terms, other than to say the package was competitive with Merrill's.Citigroup

Traditionally, Merrill has been seen as market leader and has not had to recruit aggressively, preferring to nurture homegrown talent. The financial crisis, merger and resulting upheaval have changed that.

Merrill's offers are also noteworthy because its parent company is trying to pay back $45bn in taxpayer funds from the troubled asset relief programme.

Two Merrill leaders have left since the BofA merger. Most recently Dan Sontag quit after Sallie Krawcheck, former Smith Barney chief, was brought in above him as head of global wealth and investment management.

Ken Lewis, BofA chief executive, said last year that Merrill's unparalleled network of financial advisors was the driving force behind his desire to acquire the investment bank.

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