Inland Empire professionals sound off about Merrill Lynch acquisition

Executives at three Merrill Lynch and Co. locations in the Inland Empire are answering to a new boss this morning following Bank of America Corp.'s $50 billion acquisition on Monday.
But some local professionals are questioning whether it was a smart move.

Still, the bigger issue is whether Merrill Lynch's small-business customers will jump ship because of its new behemoth parent company.

"You lose a little bit of that personal touch," said Ed Combs, a retired 38-year Inland Empire real-estate veteran, about big banks taking over other financial institutions. "People love to go somewhere where you can get on the phone and say, `Hey, how're you doing? It's Charlie.' I've shied away from big corporate banks because of what's happened there."

Merrill Lynch is no small-time operation, but Bank of America's ever-expanding basket of subsidiaries seems to dwarf more companies every year.

"People are going to look at it and ask if their relationship will change with (Merrill Lynch) or if the level of service will be the same," said Mike Stull, director of the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship at Cal State San Bernardino.

"There's always that level of uneasiness within the customer base, particularly smaller companies."