Head of Merrill Lynch brokerage business to resign

Merrill Lynch & Co. brokerage head Bob McCann announced plans Monday to leave the company, less than a week after Bank of America Corp. completed its acquisition of the securities firm.

McCann, 50, a 26-year Merrill veteran based in New York, has been head of the brokerage business since 2003. He announced his departure in an internal memo from John Thain, head of Bank of America’s investment-banking and wealth-management business.

Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis called Merrill’s brokerage the “crown jewel” of the company when the deal was announced in September. Since then, he has tried to prevent attrition in Merrill’s brokerage ranks. The 16,850-broker unit outperformed Merrill’s investment-banking and money-losing trading operations last year.

“This is going to create a lot of shock waves,” said Mindy Diamond, head of Diamond Consultants. “This may accelerate the decisions of those who have taken a wait-and-see attitude. BofA and Thain have been saying that Merrill will be operated somewhat autonomously, but the brokers have been skeptical of that.”

After more than $50 billion of losses and write-downs tied to the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market, Merrill agreed in September to be purchased by Bank of America.