Head of global debt markets group, Merrill Lynch

Lehman Brothers escaped across the river, its emergency relocation plan kicking in within minutes of the tragedy. Merrill did not fare quite as well.

David Komansky doesn’t step down as Merrill Lynch’s CEO until 2004 but he has recognized that his most important remaining task is to engineer a smooth succession. With the sector seemingly moving into a deep downturn this is all the more important. Antony Currie reports on the emergence of Stan O’Neal as Komansky’s anointed successor

The world’s best equity-linked house

The world’s best investment bank:

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers’ approach to the US institutional market can best be described as nascent. Until two months ago, there wasn’t even anyone charged with the responsibility for overseeing, developing or even simply describing Merrill’s US institutional business.

Colleagues describe Jeff Peek as straightforward, engaging, decent, and a man with a clear vision and a good sense of humour.

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers has been turned around from a poorly organized, underperforming, insular group overly focused on value investing and distribution to US retail. Now its performance looks strong, and it has a better balance of customers and investment styles. Even its acquisition of the troubled Mercury Asset Management seems finally to be paying dividends. Much of the credit goes to Jeff Peek, who took over in December 1997, bringing a breath of fresh air and a slew of judicious hires. He’s done so well that he’s in the running to head Merrill Lynch one day.

Merrill Lynch is reshuffling its European investment banking division to create a new structured credit unit.

Head of investment banking for Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East & Africa

Merrill Lynch

What's the signiWcance of Merrill Lynch's decision to appoint a British banker, Kevan Watts, in London as co-head of its global investment banking group? "The location is clearly a large part of it but my background outside the US also played a role," Watts says. Watts joined Merrill in 1981 and spent 17 years toiling for it outside the US. He worked in advisory and Wnance for UK clients in the 1980s and recalls Xoating Euromoney in 1986 at £4.60 a share. "It's been a very successful company," he says.

Once branded the internet dullard, Merrill Lynch is on the offensive. More than a decade after the brokerage firm bought a bank in Utah, it’s launching a nationwide retail banking operation, based on the internet, and paying money-market rates on insured deposits. That, and its plans for a banking and investment-services joint-venture with HSBC, may take its head off the merger block. Antony Currie reports

The biggest opportunities for growth and profits in the fixed-income world in 2000 are in Europe. Corporate bonds, high-yield, securitization will flourish. There will be a fierce contest, as all manner of intermediaries - commercial and investment banks, Americans and Europeans fight for a place in the bond bulge bracket. According to the US model this should guarantee the eventual winners a honey-pot combination of high market share and profitability. The competition to hire the people - high-level originators, salesmen expert at advising institutional investors strategically, skilled and market-savvy credit analysts - will become ever more intense. Peter Lee's report heads a series of articles on the future of fixed income

Merrill Lynch has long been tipped to become the powerhouse in Asian equities. This year's survey of international investors shows that it has reached the summit, ranking first in pan-Asian research and execution. Its large-scale regional presence is paying off as Asian markets recover. And this time the recovery is built on stronger foundations than last year's ill-fated rally, says Marcus Walker. Research by Alexa Marx

An M&A flood has shaped the financial markets landscape of the past 12 months and seeped into almost every category of our global awards for excellence this year. Lots of banks and investment banks are riding the tide but none more so than Morgan Stanley, our best investment bank of 1999 and best M&A adviser. More than ever, acquisitions have been financed by big loans. That has helped underscore the dominance of Chase, our best bank. Citigroup's success in many categories provides evidence that Citi and Salomon are confounding the sceptics and learning to work together.

For over a decade after 1987, when it first topped the US bond league tables, Merrill Lynch enjoyed unfettered growth, profitability and renown as the world's premier securities firm. Its mix of retail distribution, dependable income and worldwide expansion became the model for big investment banks to aspire to. Then, last year, things started to go wrong. Merrill's bond traders made huge losses, acquisitions in Japan and Canada produced sorry results, US asset managers put in a weak performance and clients defected from Mercury Asset Management. Most worrying, internet stock traders began to encroach on Merrill's retail business. For the past few months, the firm has licked its wounds, fended off merger rumours, and laid new plans. Now it's coming out fighting. Antony Currie reports.

The leaders of 12 of the world's biggest financial institutions look back on their careers, reflect on how the financial markets have changed and spell out their visions of the future. HSBC's John Bond, Angel Corcóstegui of BSCH, Lloyds TSB's Peter Ellwood, ABN Amro's Jan Kalff, David Komansky of Merrill Lynch, André Lévy-Lang of Paribas, ING's Godfried van der Lugt, Bankers Trust's Frank Newman, Marcel Ospel of UBS, Joseph Roby of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Pedro Luís Uriarte of BBV and CSFB's Allan Wheat spoke to Euromoney

How do you combine a career in structured finance with trips to the Cannes film festival and seats at the best soccer matches in Europe? Dorian Klein, managing director of European structured finance at Merrill Lynch in London, makes it part of the job. For the past year and a half his team has worked with intellectual property rights, pulling off a major film rights securitization last year.

There aren't many real ex-rocket scientists for hire, but another area investment banks might look at is nuclear engineering - a skill that's becoming less sought after these days. Merrill Lynch's affable new hire Dante Roscini spent five years designing nuclear power plant before dwindling enthusiasm for the nuclear industry prompted a rethink. After business school he ended up at Goldman Sachs in 1988.

Proving that you don't have to be a heartless mercenary to be an investment banker more than 100 staff from the London office of Merrill Lynch last month volunteered to help Crisis, a UK charity, in its Christmas campaign to house London's homeless.

Different ways to skin a cat

Banking system or welfare state?

The financial markets have never stood still. But rarely have they moved as quickly as they do today. The winners of all our awards by product sector are facing the same forces. Globalization is driving the market and firms are responding by consolidating. Take a careful look at the winners. They are sure to be very different next year.

The secrecy of the negotiations and the price paid stunned the City into awed silence. Merrill Lynch's takeover was certainly a good deal for Mercury Asset Management's shareholders. But was Merrill so taken with the brand name that it underestimated the fund manager's problems? Mercury has little room for growth at home and has never had much success expanding abroad. Mercury wants to keep some independence, but how long before it gets Merrillized? Antony Currie reports.

Travel narrows the mind, say the cynics. Andreas von Buddenbrock, who is not the least bit cynical, is inclined to agree.

Michael von Clemm, former chairman of CSFB and Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, died on November 6 at the age of 62.