Bank Of American To Drop Merrill Lynch And U.S. Trust Names From Some Businesses (Rachel Louise Ensign, Wall Street Journal) - Just over a decade after Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch in the depths of the financial crisis, the bank announced that it would begin to phase out the storied Merrill Lynch name from its trading and investment banking operations, though it will retain the Merrill name (as simply "Merrill") for its private wealth management business.