No Progress Consolidating Merrill And Mercury, Merger Partners Still Comparing Systems

In the two months since Merrill Lynch's landmark acquisition of Mercury Asset Management, the two firms still have yet to form a joint technology strategy. It was only this month that the information technology staffs for each partner in the merger had begun comparing their respective infrastructures, and executives from each company are not yet prepared to release a schedule for a system consolidation.

"We are only beginning to look at the combined systems," says a senior Merrill Lynch