Negative headlines and wire stories poured into Merrill Lynch's Asian HQ in the Asia-Pacific Finance Tower in Hong Kong on Friday.
News that the investment banking head for Asia and Australasia, Lou Wolfe was out, as was Singapore-based FIG head, Steve Theobald, as well as senior bankers covering India and Chinese banks, prompted further rumours about a deep cull - and signalling fears that Merrill is losing its momentum in the region.
On the positive side, Merrill replaced Wolfe with two highly regarded co-heads who have done much to win Merrill business this year. These are workaholic Sam Poon - whose background is on the debt side prior to running corporate finance - and Aj...
