Is Top Exec Departure First Sign Of Merrill / BofA Culture Clash ?

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis said when he acquired Merrill Lynch that the jewel in the crown was the firm's brokerage unit. Well, the crown has no king, as Bob McCann, the man who ran the Merrill brokerage show is to step down. And insiders say McCann has gone due to strains in his relationship with former Merrill CEO John Thain, and the culture clash already evident in the Merrill / BofA relationship.

McCann was effectively forced to take a step-down in the management structure at the merged firm (he was no longer a direct report to the CEO, reporting instead to a manager who reported to Thain - who himself reports to Lewis). And Thain is said to have become irritated by what he regarded as McCann's covert lobbying for a more senior role in the organisation. Bloomberg quotes Mindy Diamond, CEO of Diamond Consultants, who said that McCann's departure 'is going to create a lot of shock waves. This may accelerate the decisions of those who have taken a wait-and-see attitude. BofA and Thain have been saying that Merrill will operate somewhat autonomously, but the brokers have been skeptical of that. McCann's departure will definitely upset a lot of people'.

In the meantime, The Wall Street Journal reports that a planned 'get-together' town hall meeting in New York for BofA and Merrill employees, due to take place on Monday, was canned. Some say that the meeting was cancelled for cost reasons, although Merrill staffers claim that it had to be called off as Bank of America hadn't obtained the necessary permissions in triplicate from the powers-that-be in Charlotte.

Bloomberg reports that Deutsche Bank has now received approval from China's financial regulator for its joint securities venture with Shanxi Securities.

The Financial Times reports speculation that Fortress Investment Group could opt to go back to being a private company. A falling stock price has seen the firm's market cap reduced to around $770m, perhaps paving the way for the firm to be taken back into private hands. And the Nikkei business daily reports that Nomura is likely to take a third-quarter valuation loss of around $535m on its Fortress stake.

Finally, The Times reports that UK market regulator The Financial Services Authority is to lift its ban on the short selling of stock in 32 financial companies on January 16th. Investors will have to continue to disclose short positions, however, at least until June 20th.

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