Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. - Investment Banks - Category Directory

 (212) 449-1000

4 World Financial Center

New York, NY 10080

www.merrilllynch.com

Sales

$28 billion

Business Description

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.provides broker-dealer, investment banking, financing, wealth management, advisory, asset management, insurance, lending and related products and services on a global basis. The company's website is  and the relevant contact information for the company is The company's products and services include:
- investment banking, strategic advisory services (including mergers and acquisitions) and other corporate finance activities;
- securities brokerage, trading and underwriting;
- wealth management products and services, including financial, retirement and generational planning;
- asset management and investment advisory services;
- origination, brokerage, dealer and related activities in swaps, options, forwards, exchange-traded futures, other derivatives and foreign exchange products;
- securities clearance, settlement financing services and prime brokerage;
- equity, debt, foreign exchange and economic research;
- private equity and other principal investing activities;
- banking, trust and lending services, including deposit taking, commercial and mortgage lending and related services;
- insurance and annuities sales and annuity underwriting services; and
- investment advisory and related record keeping services.

GLOBAL MARKETS AND INVESTMENT BANKING (“GMI”)

GMI provides equity and debt trading, capital markets services, investment banking and strategic merger and acquisition advisory services to issuer and investor clients around the world. These activities are conducted through a network of subsidiaries, including Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (“MLPF&S”), Merrill Lynch International (“MLI”) and a number of other subsidiaries located in and outside the United States. GMI raises capital for its clients through securities underwritings, private placements and loan syndications. It also makes a market in securities, derivatives, currencies and other financial instruments to satisfy client demand for these instruments, and for proprietary trading activities. Merrill Lynch has one of the largest equity trading and underwriting operations in the world and is a leader in the origination and distribution of equity products. GMI is also a leader in the global origination and distribution of fixed income products and provides clients with financing, securities clearing, settlement and custody services. In 2003, GMI continued to maintain its expense discipline, invest in profitable growth opportunities and improve client alignment and product capabilities, while becoming more focused on providing superior execution and service. GMI’s strategic growth opportunities include equity derivatives, portfolio trading, prime brokerage, secured financing, municipal bond trading and foreign exchange, which are anticipated to be continued focus areas in 2004.

GMI implemented a new operating structure for its businesses in 2003, improving the alignment of its capabilities to meet the increasingly integrated needs of its issuer and investor clients. The Global Markets division combines the debt and equity sales and trading activities for investor clients, while the Investment Banking division provides integrated investment banking and origination services for issuer clients.

GMI’s new Global Markets structure includes the following businesses:

l Global Rates and Foreign Exchange Group — global responsibility for interest rate derivatives, foreign exchange, complex foreign exchange options, commodities, United States government and other Federal agency securities, obligations of other sovereigns, municipal securities, pass-through and collateralized mortgage obligations trading, and debt financial futures and options;


l Global Principal Investments and Secured Finance Group — responsibility on a global basis for asset-based lending, securitization and secured commercial real estate lending as well as equity investments in real estate and other secured assets;

l Global Credit Products Group — responsibility for the corporate new issue business, cash corporate bond trading, secondary loan trading, credit derivative trading, emerging markets, and structured credit products on a global basis;

l Global Investor Client Group — responsibility for sales efforts across debt and equity products on a global basis;

l Global Cash Equity Group — responsibility for cash equity trading activities on a global basis;

l Global Equity-Linked Group — responsibility for global trading activities in equity derivatives, exchange-traded options, convertibles and financial futures;

l Equity Structured Products Group — global responsibility for the creation and issuance of structured equity securities to meet investors’ financial needs; and

l Equity Financing & Services Group — responsibility for global prime brokerage, stock loan, money manager services and clearing, settlement and custody functions.

GMI’s new Investment Banking structure includes the following businesses:

l Global Capital Markets & Financing Group — global responsibility for all capital-related activities for GMI’s issuer clients, including equity and debt capital markets, corporate finance, public finance and leveraged finance;

l Global Mergers and Acquisitions Group — responsibility for mergers and acquisitions activities worldwide; and

l Global and regional industry coverage groups — including the Energy & Power group, the Financial Institutions group and the Corporate Banking group.

Other businesses within GMI include the Private Equity group and bank lending. (For a full description of GMI bank lending activities, please see the “GMI Lending Activities in the United States” and “GMI Banking Activities Outside the United States” sections under Global Bank Group Activities in Part I, Item 1 of this Report.)

GMI’s operations in the United States are conducted primarily from Merrill Lynch’s headquarters in New York City and from other office locations throughout the United States. Merrill Lynch’s GMI activities outside the United States are primarily conducted through MLI, which has a significant presence in London, and through locally established affiliates strategically located in 25 countries.

Investment Banking Activities:

Merrill Lynch is a leading global investment banking firm that participates in virtually all aspects of investment banking for corporate, institutional, government and municipal clients and acts in principal, agency and advisory capacities. Merrill Lynch provides a wide variety of financial services, including underwriting the sale of securities to the public, structured and derivative financing, project financing, privately placing securities with investors and mortgage and lease financing. Its financial advisory services include advice on strategic matters, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, restructurings, capital structuring, leveraged buyouts and defensive projects.
 
In connection with its investment banking activities, including the underwriting and private placement of securities, Merrill Lynch has from time to time taken principal positions in transactions and has extended credit to clients through the purchase of senior and subordinated debt, provided bridge financing on a select basis and participated in both syndicated loans/credit facilities and credit lines for commercial paper programs for certain corporate issuers. Before engaging in any of these financing activities, an analysis is performed to ascertain the underlying creditworthiness of the particular client and the liquidity of the market for the securities that may be issued in connection with any such financings and to determine the likelihood of refinancing within a reasonable period of time. In addition, equity interests in the subject companies are from time to time acquired as part of, or in connection with, such activities.

According to league table results published by Thomson Financial Securities Data statistics based on full credit to book managers, in 2003 Merrill Lynch ranked third in global debt underwriting and fifth in global equity and equity-linked underwriting with market shares of 7.1% and 8.0%, respectively. Merrill Lynch ranked third in global completed mergers and acquisitions in 2003 with a market share of 17.1%. In GMI, there has been a shift in focus in investment banking towards higher margin activities balanced with aggregate market share goals. Additional market share information is disclosed in Management’s Discussion and Analysis on pages 23 and 24 of the 2003 Annual Report.

Brokerage, Dealer and Related Activities:

In the United States, MLPF&S is a broker (i.e., agent) for corporate, institutional and government clients, and is a dealer (i.e., acts for its own account) in the purchase and sale of corporate securities, primarily equity and debt securities traded on exchanges or in the over-the-counter markets. MLPF&S also acts as a broker and/or a dealer in the purchase and sale of mutual funds, money market instruments, government securities, high-yield bonds, municipal securities, futures and options, including option contracts for the purchase and sale of various types of securities. Merrill Lynch, through MLPF&S, MLI and various other subsidiaries, is a dealer in equity and fixed income securities of a significant number of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, in government obligations of the United States and other sovereigns, in U.S. municipal securities, in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities and in loans and related financial instruments.

As part of its trading activities, Merrill Lynch places its capital at risk by engaging in block positioning to facilitate transactions in large blocks of listed and over-the-counter securities and by engaging, from time to time, in arbitrage and other transactions for its own account. In its block positioning activities, Merrill Lynch purchases securities or sells them short for its own account, without having full commitments for their resale or covering purchase, thereby employing its capital to effect large transactions. Such positioning activities are undertaken after analyzing a given security’s marketability and any position taken typically is liquidated as soon as practicable. In addition, Merrill Lynch facilitates various trading strategies involving the purchase and sale of financial futures contracts and options and, in connection with this activity, it may establish positions for its own account and risk. Merrill Lynch may also take proprietary positions for its own account, not in connection with block positioning or other customer facilitation.
 
Merrill Lynch makes markets in Nasdaq and over-the-counter securities, including non-U.S. securities. In 2003, Merrill Lynch consolidated trading activities in Nasdaq and over-the-counter stocks on its New York trading floor and closed its New Jersey trading floor. In June 2003, Merrill Lynch integrated its listed and Nasdaq equity trading functions into a single unit, allowing the trading of securities within a sector, regardless of whether they are listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq. Outside the United States, MLI is a registered market maker in the equity securities of the more active non-U.S. corporations. MLPF&S and MLI are also dealers in mortgage-backed, asset-backed and corporate and government fixed-income securities. Nearly all Nasdaq institutional client trades are now executed on an agency, rather than principal, basis.

Merrill Lynch Government Securities Inc. (“MLGSI”) is a primary dealer in obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government and regularly makes a market in securities issued by Federal agencies and other government-sponsored entities, such as Government National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among others. MLGSI deals in mortgage-backed pass-through certificates issued by certain of these entities and also in related futures, options, and forward contracts for its own account, to hedge its own risk, and to facilitate customers’ transactions. As a primary dealer, MLGSI acts as a counterparty to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“FRBNY”) in the conduct of open market operations and regularly reports positions and activities to the FRBNY.

An integral part of MLGSI’s business involves entering into repurchase agreements and securities lending transactions. These transactions aid in financing MLGSI’s inventory and provide short-term investment vehicles for customers, including Merrill Lynch affiliates. As part of MLGSI’s business as a dealer in government obligations, MLGSI also enters into reverse repurchase transactions whereby MLGSI buys securities from counterparties and simultaneously agrees to sell them back at a future date. Such agreements provide MLGSI with access to desired securities and customers with temporary liquidity for their investments in U.S. Government and agency securities.

Various non-U.S. Merrill Lynch subsidiaries act as dealers in certain securities issued or guaranteed by the governments of the countries where such subsidiaries are located.

Derivative Dealing and Foreign Exchange Activities:

Merrill Lynch, through MLPF&S, MLI, Merrill Lynch Capital Services, Inc. (“MLCS”) and Merrill Lynch Derivative Products AG (“MLDP”), acts as an intermediary and principal in equity, interest rate, currency and other over-the-counter derivative transactions. MLI engages in equity and credit derivatives business in the over-the-counter markets. MLCS and MLDP are Merrill Lynch’s primary interest rate and currency derivative product dealers. MLI is Merrill Lynch’s primary credit and equity derivatives product dealer.

MLCS primarily acts as a counterparty for certain derivative financial products, including interest rate and currency swaps, caps, and floors and options. MLCS maintains positions in interest-bearing securities, financial futures and forward contracts to hedge its interest rate and currency risk related to derivative exposures. In the normal course of its business, MLCS enters into repurchase and resale agreements with certain affiliated companies. MLCS also engages in certain commodity-related transactions as a principal.
 

MLDP acts as an intermediary for certain derivative products, including interest rate and currency swaps, between MLCS and counterparties that are highly rated or otherwise acceptable to MLDP. Its activities address certain swap customers’ preference to limit their trading to those dealers having the highest credit quality. MLDP has been assigned the Aaa, AAA and AAA counterparty rating by the rating agencies Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings, respectively. Customers meeting certain credit criteria enter into swaps with MLDP and, in turn, MLDP enters into offsetting mirror swaps with MLCS. However, MLCS is required to provide MLDP with collateral to meet certain exposures MLDP may have to MLCS.

Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Bank Limited (“MLCMBL”), an Irish bank with branch offices in Frankfurt and Milan, acts primarily as a credit intermediary (with market risk hedged through various affiliates) for swap, options and other derivative transactions, and secondarily, as principal for a variety of debt derivative transactions. In addition to its derivatives activities, MLCMBL engages in advisory, lending and institutional sales activities.

GMI’s Global Rates and Foreign Exchange Group, primarily through Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited (“MLIB”), provides foreign exchange trading services to corporations, other institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals in various countries. For this business, MLIB primarily operates out of its Head Office in London, and through affiliated agents in New York and Tokyo.

Mortgage Dealing Activities:

Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital Inc. (“MLMCI”) is a dealer in whole loan mortgages, mortgage loan participations, mortgage servicing and syndicated commercial loans. MLMCI, through its CMO Passport® service, provides dealers and investors with general indicative information and analytic capability with respect to collateralized mortgage obligations, mortgage pass-through certificates and asset-backed securities.  Merrill Lynch Mortgage Lending, Inc. (“MLML”) is a commercial mortgage conduit that makes, and purchases from lenders, both commercial and multi-family mortgage loans and then securitizes these loans for sale to investors. MLML purchases subprime residential mortgage loans from originators of these loans and aggregates these loans for sale in the securitization market.  
Principal Investing and Structured Finance Activities:

Merrill Lynch, through various subsidiaries, provides to its qualified institutional clients term, mezzanine and bridge financing which may be secured by performing, subperforming and nonperforming commercial real estate, portfolios of residential real estate, consumer receivables or other assets. Merrill Lynch also makes proprietary investments in all levels of the capital structure of U.S. and non-U.S. companies, and in special purpose companies owning real estate, mortgages, consumer receivables and other assets.

Money Markets and Related Activities:

Merrill Lynch, through various subsidiaries including Merrill Lynch Money Markets Inc. (“MLMMI”) and MLPF&S, provides a full range of origination, trading and marketing services with respect to money market instruments. These instruments include commercial paper, institutional and retail certificates of deposit, medium-term notes, bank notes and auction rate preferred securities.

Futures Business Activities:

Merrill Lynch’s futures business activity is conducted through MLPF&S and other subsidiaries. MLPF&S holds memberships and/or has third party clearing relationships with respect to all major commodity and financial futures exchanges and clearing associations in the United States and it also carries positions reflecting trades executed on exchanges outside of the United States through affiliates and/or third party clearing brokers. Other Merrill Lynch subsidiaries hold memberships on major commodity and financial futures exchanges and clearing associations outside the United States and may carry proprietary and/or customer positions in accounts maintained on their books. All futures and futures options transactions are executed by, cleared through and/or carried by MLPF&S or other Merrill Lynch subsidiaries engaged in futures activities. However, in certain contracts, or on certain exchanges, third party brokers are utilized to execute and clear trades. MLPF&S and several of its affiliates may also take proprietary market positions in futures and futures options in certain instances.

Securities Finance, Settlement and Clearance and Prime Brokerage:

Merrill Lynch provides financing to clients, including securities lending, margin lending and other extensions of credit such as repurchase and derivative transactions in connection with prime brokerage services. In a margin-based transaction, Merrill Lynch extends credit for a portion of the market value of the securities in the client’s account up to the limit imposed by internal Merrill Lynch policies and applicable margin rules and regulations. Since Merrill Lynch may have financial exposure if a client fails to meet a margin call, margin loans made by Merrill Lynch are generally collateralized by securities in the client’s account. Financial reviews, margin procedures and other credit standards are used in an effort to limit any exposures resulting from this margin lending activity. Interest on margin loans is an important source of revenue for Merrill Lynch. To finance margin loans, Merrill Lynch uses funds on which it pays interest (including ML & Co. borrowings), funds on which it does not pay interest (including its own capital), funds derived from clients’ free credit balances to the extent permitted by regulations and funds derived from loaned securities.

Merrill Lynch provides securities clearing services for its own account and for the account of its customers, third party broker-dealers and other professional trading entities, through its subsidiaries including MLPF&S and Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. (“ML PRO”). MLPF&S provides these services to approximately 100 unaffiliated broker-dealers. While the introducing broker-dealer firm retains all sales functions with its customers, MLPF&S services the customers’ accounts and handles all settlement and credit aspects of transactions. ML PRO clears transactions for specialists and market-makers on various national and regional stock exchanges and clears futures transactions for clients through a divisional clearing arrangement with MLPF&S. In addition, ML PRO clears transactions for arbitrageurs, customers and other professional trading entities. ML PRO also clears transactions for broker-dealers engaged in proprietary trading, for introducing brokers whose accounts are carried on a fully disclosed basis and for selected institutional accounts as direct accounts of ML PRO that transact business primarily on a prime brokerage basis.

Private Equity Investing Activities:

Merrill Lynch makes investments for its own account in private companies and also engages in taking public companies private. Merrill Lynch sponsors and manages private equity funds that invest principally in equity and debt securities of various private companies. In Merrill Lynch-sponsored funds, a Merrill Lynch entity serves as the general partner or manager of the funds and may also invest its own capital or monies as a limited partner. The other limited partners of the Merrill Lynch-sponsored funds are corporate and institutional investors as well as Merrill Lynch’s high-net-worth client base and its eligible employees. Private equity investments are also offered to clients in the MLIM and GPC business segments. Merrill Lynch also invests as a limited partner in third party funds.

Merrill Lynch may underwrite, trade, invest and make markets in certain securities of companies in which Merrill Lynch or Merrill Lynch-sponsored funds have invested, and may also provide financial advisory services to these companies or maintain a commercial relationship with them. The Merrill Lynch employees who invest and manage the investment assets of Merrill Lynch or Merrill Lynch-sponsored funds may participate in the gains on those investment assets.

GLOBAL PRIVATE CLIENT (“GPC”)

GPC provides a full range of advice-based wealth management products and services to assist clients in managing all aspects of their financial profile through the Total Merrill SM platform. GPC’s offerings include:

l commission and fee-based investment accounts;

l credit products;

l banking services;

l cash management and credit cards;

l trust and generational planning;

l consumer and small business lending;

l retirement services; and

l insurance products.


GPC serves individual investors and small and middle market corporations and institutions through approximately 13,500 Financial Advisors (“FAs”) in approximately 640 offices around the world as of year-end 2003. Assets in GPC accounts totaled $1.3 trillion at December 26, 2003.

Brokerage, Dealer and Related Investment Activities:

In the United States, GPC’s brokerage and advisory services are provided through MLPF&S. MLPF&S is a broker and a dealer for individual, corporate, institutional and government clients in the purchase and sale of corporate equity and fixed income securities, money market instruments, government securities, high-yield bonds, municipal securities, futures and options. In addition, MLPF&S acts as a dealer in the distribution of mutual funds. MLPF&S also provides financing to clients, including margin lending and other extensions of credit. See Securities Finance, Settlement and Clearance and Prime Brokerage in Part I, Item I of this Report.

GPC also provides discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services through MLPF&S, including Merrill Lynch Consults® Service, the Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund Advisor® program, the Personal Investment Advisory Program and the Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund Advisor Selects® program. GPC offers a number of financial planning services, including the Financial Foundation® report. GPC also provides enhanced services such as pre-trade verifications and post-trade e-mail confirmations for certain Section 16 insider transactions for corporate directors and officers of publicly-traded companies.
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GPC also structures and sponsors a wide variety of alternative investment products for qualified high-net-worth clients and enters into selling agreements to distribute third party sponsored funds. These products include hedge funds, private equity funds, managed futures and exchange funds that are managed by non-affiliated third party managers. Through its HedgeAccess® product, Merrill Lynch offers qualified clients the opportunity to invest in a select, diverse group of single manager hedge funds with consistent terms and exchange privileges. These products are sold to both U.S. and non-U.S. high-net-worth investors. At the end of 2003, GPC acted as sponsor of alternative investment products in which approximately $9.7 billion of client capital was invested.

Client Service:

Brokerage and advisory financial services are provided in the United States to GPC clients principally through the Financial Advisor network. Outside the United States, Merrill Lynch provides comprehensive brokerage and investment services and related products through a network of offices located in 25 countries. In certain countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan, clients can open accounts with Merrill Lynch affiliates that are locally regulated. Banking and trust services as well as asset management services are also offered to private clients in many countries.

MLPF&S has established commission rates or fixed charges for all brokerage services that it performs. For certain accounts, however, its policy is to negotiate commissions based on economies of scale and the complexity of the particular trading transaction, and for its institutional customers, based on the competitive environment and trading opportunities. Clients may elect to enroll in a non-discretionary brokerage service called Unlimited Advantage®, which offers securities and investment transaction services, as well as other planning, research and account services, for an annual asset-based fee.

To be more responsive to client needs and enhance the quality of its clients’ experience, both inside and outside the United States, Merrill Lynch offers a multi-channel service model, more closely aligning its FAs with clients based on levels of investable assets. For example, ultra-high-net-worth clients will be aligned with Private Wealth Advisors (“PWAs”). PWAs are FAs who have completed a rigorous accreditation program and who focus on clients with more than $10 million of investable assets. For clients in the U.S. with less than $100,000 of investable assets, Merrill Lynch utilizes its Financial Advisory Center (“FAC”) to more effectively serve these clients. All FAC customers receive a team-based advisory service relationship, with 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week access by telephone or online. GPC also has created International Financial Advisory Centers to more effectively serve non-U.S. clients with lower levels of investable assets.

The Wealth Management Technology Platform, which will be deployed in 2004, will provide a new standard of desktop technology to more than 23,000 users including FAs, Client Associates, the Financial Advisory Center and call centers by providing a fully integrated desktop that incorporates market data and financial planning tools.

Merrill Lynch also provides electronic brokerage service through Merrill Lynch Direct®, an internet-based brokerage service for U.S. clients preferring a self-directed approach to investing. Merrill Lynch Direct offers online equity and fixed income trading, mutual funds, access to Merrill Lynch research and a variety of online investing tools.

Client Accounts:

Individual clients access the full range of GPC brokerage and advisory services through the CMA® account. At the end of 2003, there were more than 2.1 million CMA accounts with aggregate assets of approximately $580 billion. Small- and medium-sized businesses obtain a wide range of securities account and cash management services through the Working Capital Management Account® (“WCMA® account”) and related services. The WCMA account combines business checking, borrowing (through MLPF&S or its affiliate, Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services Inc.), investment and electronic funds transfer services into one account for participating business clients. At the end of 2003, there were more than 121,000 WCMA accounts that, in the aggregate, had investment assets of more than $93 billion. Through Merrill Lynch OnLine®, clients can access their Merrill Lynch accounts, including account information, real time quotes, Merrill Lynch research and a variety of other investment information.

In early 2003, GPC introduced Total Merrill, a fully integrated array of wealth management services. In conjunction with the introduction of Total Merrill, Beyond Banking® was also introduced. Beyond Banking is a special securities account product designed for everyday transactions, savings and cash management that combines Visa®, check writing and ATM access with available advice and guidance. This enables clients to separate such activities from their longer-term investment accounts and thus offers them an alternative to their current third-party banking relationships. At the end of 2003, there were more than 98,000 Beyond Banking accounts with aggregate assets of approximately $20 billion. To augment its account services products, during 2003 Merrill Lynch entered into a strategic alliance with MBNA America Bank N.A. in order to provide Merrill Lynch-branded credit cards to Merrill Lynch’s clients.

Retirement Services:

The Merrill Lynch Retirement Group is responsible for approximately $302 billion in retirement assets for approximately 5.8 million individuals. These assets are held either in individual accounts or through one of approximately 24,000 workplace-based retirement programs covered by the group.

MLPF&S provides a wide variety of investment and custodial services to individuals through Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”) and through small business retirement programs such as the Merrill Lynch Simplified Employee Pension Plan and the Merrill Lynch Simple Retirement Account Plan. MLPF&S also provides investment, administration, communications and consulting services to corporations and their employees for their retirement programs. These programs include 401(k), pension, profit-sharing and non-qualified deferred compensation plans, as well as other retirement benefit plans. In March 2003, Merrill Lynch launched Merrill Lynch AdviceAccess, an investment advisory service for individuals in retirement plans that provides plan participants with the option of obtaining advice through their local FA, an advisor at the Financial Advisory Center or through Merrill Lynch’s Benefits Online® website. In January 2004, Merrill Lynch announced a strategic alliance with Wealth Management Systems, Inc. to offer retirement plan participants online tools for assessing their distribution options and subsequently making those distributions via a web-enabled platform.

Insurance Activities:

Merrill Lynch’s insurance activities primarily consist of issuing annuity products through Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Company (“MLLIC”) and ML Life Insurance Company of New York (“ML Life”). These activities also include the sale of proprietary and non-proprietary life insurance and annuity products through Merrill Lynch Life Agency Inc. and other insurance agencies affiliated or associated with MLPF&S operating in the United States, Guam and the United States Virgin Islands.

Trust Activities:

Merrill Lynch provides personal trust, employee benefit trust and custodial services. Trust services in the United States are provided by Merrill Lynch Trust Company, FSB, a federally chartered savings bank. Trust services outside of the United States are provided by Merrill Lynch Bank and Trust Company (Cayman) Limited, Merrill Lynch Trust Services S.A. and Merrill Lynch Corporate (New Zealand) Limited.

GPC Lending/Bank Activities:

For a full description of GPC activities within the Global Bank Group, including activities relating to credit products and banking services, please see the “GPC Deposit Taking and Lending Activities in the United States” and “GPC Banking Activities Outside the United States” sections under Global Bank Group Activities in Part I, Item 1 of this Report.
 

MERRILL LYNCH INVESTMENT MANAGERS (“MLIM”)

MLIM is among the world’s largest asset managers with approximately $500 billion of assets under management at the end of 2003. The principal subsidiaries engaged in asset management activities conducted through the Merrill Lynch Investment Managers brand name are Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, L.P. (“MLIM LP”) and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Limited (“MLIM Limited”).

With portfolio managers located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, MLIM:

l manages a wide variety of investment products ranging from money market funds and other forms of short-term fixed income investments to long-term taxable and tax-exempt fixed income funds or portfolios, along a broad spectrum of quality ratings and maturities;

l offers a wide array of taxable and tax-exempt fixed-income, equity and balanced mutual funds and segregated accounts to a diverse global clientele;

l manages transitional portfolio restructurings for institutional clients changing investment objectives or managers; and

l offers a wide assortment of index-based equity and alternative investment products.

MLIM manages separate accounts for high-net-worth retail investors. MLIM also manages assets for governments, pension funds, endowments and other institutional investors in a wide variety of active and passive strategies relating to both equity and fixed-income assets. At the end of 2003, MLIM managed a total of approximately $253 billion in institutional accounts.

In addition to its retail fund business, MLIM offers a wide assortment of alternative investment products, including hedge funds, hedge fund of funds, private equity fund of funds, real estate funds, managed futures funds and exchange funds. These products are sold to both U.S. and non-U.S. high-net-worth retail and institutional investors. At the end of 2003, a total of approximately $5.4 billion of client capital was committed and approximately $3.6 billion was invested in alternative investment products.
 

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