February 22, 2010
Bank of America Hires Ex-Merrill Lynch Managers Kaplan, Chapin
Bank of America Corp. hired former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives Todd Kaplan and Samuel Chapin, who left amid last year’s acquisition of the securities firm.
Kaplan, 45, and Chapin, 52, will become executive vice chairmen of global banking and report to Thomas Montag, president of global banking and markets, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said today in a statement.
Chapin left Bank of America last March, joining an exodus of more than three dozen senior Merrill bankers including former Chief Executive Officer John Thain and investment bank head Greg Fleming. Thain was appointed CEO of CIT Group Inc. this month, while Fleming joined Morgan Stanley as head of investment management and research.
“Their decisions to rejoin Bank of America Merrill Lynch are a reflection of the tremendous momentum we have achieved as a combined company and global industry leader,” Montag said in the statement.
Kaplan left his post as head of investment banking at Citadel Investment Group LLC’s securities unit in January. He had worked at Merrill for 22 years before leaving in November 2008. He will be based in Chicago, where he has spent much of his career.
Bank of America’s global banking and markets units reported a profit of $10.2 billion last year, helping offset losses from the company’s home loan and credit-card businesses.
Brian Moynihan, who replaced Kenneth Lewis as CEO on Jan. 1, led an effort to hire several former Merrill executives including Chapin, people familiar with the effort said in July. At the time, Moynihan led the combined firm’s investment bank and brokerage for individual clients.
Paying Bonuses
Kaplan formerly was global head of leveraged finance at Merrill. He counted real-estate billionaire Sam Zell, chairman of Tribune Co., among his clients. At Merrill, Chapin served industrial companies such as Deere & Co., Alcoa Inc. and Tyco International Ltd. He testified at the fraud trial of Dennis Kozlowski, the former Tyco CEO, in 2004.
Chapin and Kaplan join three others with the executive vice chairman title. Fares Noujaim and Harry McMahon are veteran Merrill executives, while Stefan Selig has worked for Bank of America since 1999.
AP
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