BofA Won't Sweat Merrill Departures

The unexpected departures this week of two of Merrill Lynch's top executives may raise doubts about Bank of America's (BAC Quote) latest acquisition, but there are lots of reasons to remain optimistic about the deal.

This week saw the exit of Greg Fleming, Merrill's president and CEO, and Robert McCann, head of the wealth management division that was widely viewed as the major prize for BofA in buying Merrill. While Merrill has seen other high level departures since the deal was announced in September, both Fleming and McCann had been assigned important-sounding new roles at the combined company.

BofA has projected it will eliminate $7 billion in costs as part of the takeover, and losing highly paid executives is an important part of accomplishing that, notes Moody's Investors Service analyst David Fanger. "If you think about the nature of mergers, there are going to be excess senior managers when you start out," he says. ...