Dow Kim leaves Merrill Lynch

Dow Kim, New York-based co-head of global markets and investment banking at Merrill Lynch, will leave the bank by the end of the year. According to the company, he plans to establish a multi-strategy private investment firm.

Merrill Lynch said it expects to be an initial client of the new fund. The bank’s chief executive Stan O’Neal remarked it was an ambition Kim had harboured for some time, and that they had agreed now was an opportune time for him to leave. “I am pleased we will be able to continue to benefit from his investment expertise by forming an affiliation with his new firm,” he said. Nonetheless, the bank expects Kim to be available to it until the end of 2007.

Kim rose to the role as co-head of global markets and investment banking in August 2003. (See also: Derivatives expert climbs another rung at Merrill Lynch) A replacement for him is yet to be named.

Meanwhile, fellow co-head of global markets and investment banking Gregory Fleming and chief administrative officer Ahmass Fakahany have been made co-presidents of Merrill Lynch in a management reshuffle. Their successors have not been named. In their newly created roles Fleming and Fakahany will be jointly responsible for oversight of the company’s operating businesses and support services, while the firm’s finance function now reports directly to Stan O’Neal. Both Fleming and Fakahany continue to be based in New York and report to O’Neal.