Merrill bids farewell to a Raging Bull

Although he has spent the past four years working in DCM, Stoddard's background is leveraged finance and indeed, he first came to Asia in August 1998 with the aim of bringing his expertise to the region. When it soon became clear that the sector was still very much in its infancy he transferred to debt syndicate in December the same year, forging a close working relationship with then DCM head Sam Poon, who now co-heads of Asian investment banking.