Meryll Lynch & Co is an international financial services firm that provides investment banking and advisory services, asset management, wealth management, insurance as well as capital markets services. Based in the thriving city of New York, the firm has grown big enough to occupy the entire 34 stories of the Four World Financial Center in Manhattan.
The firm was founded by Charles Merrill and his friend Edmund Lynch way back in the early 1900s. During its early years, the firm made a number of successful investments, including its acquisition of the Pathé Exchange.
In 1940, the firm joined with two other firms, namely the E.A. Pierce & Co and Cassatt & Co. After the merger, the firm became known as Meryll Lynch, E.A. Pierce, and Cassatt. The following year, Meryll Lynch became the first company to ever publish an annual fiscal report on Wall Street.
The firm was officially incorporated after Edmund Lynch’s death in 1952 and a few years later, Meryll Lynch successfully turned itself into the largest securities firm in the world. In 1958, the firm’s name was changed into Merill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and at the same time, became a significant member of the board of the New York Stock Exchange.
In 2008, the firm was acquired by the Bank of America, one of the world’s biggest financial institutions. As a result of the merger, it has become the largest brokerage firm worldwide. It has also become a leading provider of international corporate and investment banking services that includes global high yield debt, commercial lending, global equity, as well as global M&A. As a team, Meryll Lynch and the Bank of America have become a global leader in retail brokerage, wealth management, and private banking.
The firm now carries the name Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
