Reblogged from Credit where it's due:
Merrill Lynch is now an unguaranteed subsidiary of Bank of Merrill Lynch. While everyone seems to have understood the subsidiary apect of this, a lot less focus has been placed on the unguaranteed part.
Merrill Lynch is a capitals market bank, with very little in the way of deposits and little in the way of divergence of investments from trade related businesses; Bank of America on the other hand is a universal bank, cash deposits make up around 50% of its consolidated liabilities, has a much wider source of funding and assets.
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