Did Mother Merrill Leave Bayly et al Hanging Out to Dry?

Did Stan O'Neal leave his Enron bankers out to dry? That's the most interesting implication to come out of yesterday's Times piece ostensibly about the increasing numbers of bankers getting taken down over their alleged roles as facilitators of some of the high profile corporate fraud cases that define the business landscape of the beginning of this decade.

More than anything, the rapid fall of Mr. Bayly, a company man with a mystical devotion to the Merrill Lynch ethos, underscores how quickly the ties that bind a loyal banker to his firm can be snapped. This break has a deeper resonance at Merrill Lynch, known historically as Mother Merrill, a nod to the notion that the firm has always taken care of its own.

Circumstantial evidence, according to the article, includes the fact that the four bankers were indicted the same day that the firm signed an agreement to cooperate with the federal government. Says Dan Tully, former Chairman and CEO of Merrill: "If there was a mistake made, it was signing that agreement. And if there was a decision to give up these four gentlemen, I can't believe any leader would do that...I think Stan believes in Mother Merrill. If he does not believe in it, shame on him." What do you think? Is Mother Merrill an out-dated concept? Deals and Consequences [NY Times]

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