BofA-Merrill Shakeup Dents LatAm

Amid turnover in the global C-suite – including the exit of former CEO John Thain – senior LatAm staff are departing Merrill Lynch, which reported a Q4 loss of $15.31bn. Bankers at other shops expect further regional reductions as Bank of America pushes to cut costs and realize value from the Merrill purchase. Two senior LatAm equities bankers have recently left as part of a company-wide reduction in headcount. The departures are billed by some as resignations, though Merrill is rumored to be seeking to cut thousands of jobs globally. Juan Vogeler, MD and co-head of LatAm ECM based in New York, has gone. Ricardo Lanfranchi, MD in charge of Merrill’s Brazil-based equities brokerage unit, has also departed, along with at least 6 other mid and junior level investment bankers in Sao Paulo. The changes appear to leave Sebastien Chatel, co-head of ECM based in Sao Paulo, as the sole remaining senior executive overseeing the equity product for LatAm. The MD was confirmed last week to still be employed at Merrill. Three more rounds of layoffs are expected at BofA-Merrill globally, the next in February. “It’s in total disarray, all over the place,” says a LatAm banker at the recently merged entity, when asked about the mood internally. A Merrill spokeswoman declines to comment. Merrill has made a decent 2009 start on the fixed income side in LatAm, with a joint bookrunner title on Brazil’s comeback $1bn 2019 earlier this month. However, the bond traded poorly and was criticized by investors and bankers at rival shops for its execution. The shop also advised on Invest Tur’s merger with LAHotels.