Merrill Lynch is expected to say on Wednesday that it will add about $2.5bn more to the $5bn worth of write-downs it has already announced, reports the New York Times. The additional write-down, coming so soon after the company’s $5bn charge, may raise more questions about the leadership of Stan O’Neal, Merrill’s chief executive, and the ability of his top executives to assess the firm’s risk exposure. The bank, which reports third quarter earnings later today, said earlier this month that it expected to write down $5bn because of losses in its fixed-income unit, mostly related to mortgage-related securities.

This entry was posted by Helen Thomas on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 5:37 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with merrill lynch. Edit this entry.