MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Merril Lynch losses trigger executive bonuses investigation

Merrill Lynch & Co lost 15.84 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter, a regulatory filing showed, more than 500 million higher than the loss previously estimated by Bank of America Corp.

The quarterly loss equalled 9.95 per share for the period ended Dec. 26, 2008, according to Merrill's annual report filed on Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Bank of America had on January 16 estimated that Merrill lost 15.31 billion in the fourth quarter. Among the charges that Merrill Lynch took in the fourth quarter was a 2.3 billion goodwill write-down, mainly because of exposure in its fixed income, currencies, and commodities trading unit. Bank of America acquired Merrill on January first 2009, creating the largest US bank by assets. Later that month, Bank of America got a government bailout, including 20 billion of new capital, to help it absorb losses on some Merrill assets. The size of Merrill's write-downs, combined with the roughly 3.6 billion of executive bonuses awarded to the company's executives late last year, has aroused political censure and regulatory investigations. A judge on Monday ordered former Merrill Chief Executive John Thain to provide more information about executive bonuses.