Wall St. Meets Charlotte Culture

The New York Times reports:

Bank of America’s headache over Merrill Lynch bonuses just turned into a migraine. With just a few simple data points, the New York attorney general, Andrew M.Cuomo, starkly delineated the divide between the combined banks. Merrill had four times as many million-dollar earners last year as its new parent. What’s more, a significantly higher proportion of the Thundering Herd received such handsome payouts.

Merging the cultures of Charlotte and Wall Street was never going to be easy. When Merrill’s then-chief executive, John A. Thain, got bonuses out earlier than usual — just ahead of the sale to Bank of America in January — the task became harder. Now it’s even clearer that many of those payments were outsize by North Carolina standards.

Bank of America’s top brass want to preserve some of their old thrift at their new investment bank. They have the political winds at their back. And their reputation preceded them, helping precipitate the departure of many senior Merrill employees.

But the 796 Merrill millionaires who still work for the merged company may take come comfort in the fact that Bank of America’s commitment to the brokerage and securities business does not seem to have wavered.

An interesting Wall Street article.