MOST INNOVATIVE INVESTMENT BANK FROM NORTH AMERICA

摘要

Competition in investment banking is fierce at the best of times. Throw in the financial crisis and the regulatory deluge that followed, and you have an unforgiving environment in which to execute one of the largest ever pieces of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the sector. On paper, combining Bank of America's balance sheet strength and corporate banking and financing franchise with Merrill Lynch's equities coverage and investment banking expertise made perfect sense. But the legacies of subprime assets and the Countrywide acquisition dragged down the group and soaked up management time. With competitors circling its clients and staff, sceptics started to wonder if Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) could ever deliver on the rationale behind the merger.