The Globe and Mail

The party line from Merrill Lynch is the commitment to Canada is undiminished, but going forward, the Wall Street firm is clearly going to cover this country with fewer Toronto-based staff.
In addition to parting ways with two analysts this week – Canadian consumer product, merchandising and biotech coverage is being picked up by analysts based in the States – the Merrill Lynch equity desk is down two bodies.
Trader Paul O'Hea departed for the desk at RBC Dominion Securities, where his brother is working.
And on the sales side, Steve Satov left Merrill Lynch, and is expected to soon be selling U.S. equities to Canadian accounts for another firm.
Merrill Lynch announced cuts last week that are expected to trim 4,000 employees or 10 per cent of the workforce. Coming out of this experience, the dealer seems intent of centralizing sales, trading and research at head office.
From a strategic point of view, covering Canadian companies from outside this country makes sense for all concerned, is it should expand domestic exposure to foreign investors.
The problem is always in execution. It's difficult to give Canadian plays much profile when Wall Street analysts and sales and trading desks have all sorts of incentives to focus on American companies over foreign stocks.