Exclusive: Merrill Lynch scraps national meeting for small confabs

By Elizabeth Dilts NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corps's Merrill Lynch canceled what had been a traditional national leadership meeting last week and will instead hold smaller, regional gatherings. A Merrill Lynch spokeswoman said the decision to scrap the conference was based on new approaches to training, not cutting costs. For many years, the gathering brought together several hundred branch and complex managers every January, according to sources familiar with it. Last year, it was held in Orlando. "We are moving to smaller, less formal training and integration meetings where our leadership teams can interact easier, build deeper relationships and more fully focus on implementing our goals based strategy," a Merrill Lynch spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division, where Merrill Lynch resides, reported record high revenues and profit margins in second quarter earnings released in July. Bank of America releases its third quarter earnings on Oct. 15. (Reporting By Elizabeth Dilts.; Additional reporting by Jed Horowitz. Editing by Andre Grenon)