Merrill Lynch Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Merrill Lynch is one of the world’s leading wealth management, capital markets, and advisory companies, with offices in 40 countries around the world. It was founded in 1914 and employs approximately 60,000 people; its total client assets are approximately $1.6 trillion (as of June 2008). The company offers capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, investment management, insurance, banking, and related products and services on a global basis.

Merrill Lynch has organized its activities into two interrelated business segments: Global Wealth Management and Global Markets and Investment Banking. Global Wealth Management offers proprietary and third-party wealth management products and services globally to individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and employee benefit plans. It comprises two business divisions: Global Private Client and Global Investment Management.

The Global Private Client group provides advice based wealth management services and products to individual clients and businesses. The group’s business model is based on its network of more than 15,930 financial advisers in approximately 680 offices around the world and on one-to-one relationships with clients. It provides support to financial advisers through five core functional areas: global banking, marketing, investment and wealth management, retirement, and direct services. Its financial advisers integrate guidance with a range of products and services.

First Republic Bank, a division of Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust, Co., in the Global Bank Group focuses on personalized services including private banking, private business banking, real estate lending, wealth management, and trust services delivered through a team of financial professionals. An International group serves the needs of investors outside the United States. Products and services include advice and market intelligence, professional money management, investments, wealth protection, cross-border solutions, banking and cash management, and tracking progress.

The Global Investment Management group focuses on businesses that create and manage wealth management products for individual investors and small businesses, including (1) a business that creates and manages hedge funds and other alternative investment products; unlike traditional investments such as mutual funds, whose performance is largely dependent on the direction of the broader market, many alternative investment strategies seek positive returns in any market or economic environment; and (2) Merrill Lynch’s ownership positions in investment management companies, including BlackRock. The latter manages assets on behalf of institutions and individuals worldwide through a variety of equity, fixed income, cash management, and alternative investment products.

Finally, Multicultural Marketing is a division of the Global Wealth Management group’s Strategic Marketing and Brand Management. It works to build brand relevance and assists financial advisers in the development and expansion of new business from high-net-worth investors and businesses.

Global Markets and Investment Banking provides institutional sales and trading, investment banking advisory and capital-raising services to corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. The Global Markets group deals with financial markets around the world, providing liquidity, industry-leading insights and analytics, and added value across the spectrum of debt and equity markets.

The Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities group deals with interest rate, credit, and asset-based products, liability management, foreign exchange, commodities, derivatives, and other securities. The group also offers a wide range of risk management solutions to clients around the world. The Global Equities group provides a full range of equity and equity-linked sales and trading services, including sophisticated portfolio analytics and electronic trading. The group’s brokerage services include transaction and portfolio financing, stock lending, clearing, settlement, reporting, and custody.

The Global Investment Banking group serves a diverse client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, financial sponsors, hedge funds, governments, and government agencies. It has presence in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Rim, serving clients in virtually all countries. It offers strategic advice, financing, restructuring, and risk management, as well as capital-raising from both public markets and private sources.

In the midst of the 2008 mortgage credit crisis Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch, which had suffered steep losses, and the two companies were scheduled to officially join forces on January 1, 2009.

Bibliography:

Russell J. Bruemmer and Andrew L. Sandler, Subprime Credit Crisis: Everything You Need to Know Now (Practicing Law Institute, 2008);
Keith Michael Hearit and Jennifer Brown, “Merrill Lynch: Corporate Apologia and Business Fraud,” Public Relations Review (v.30/4, 2004);
Merrill Lynch, ml.com (cited March 2009);
Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla, Chain of Blame: How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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