The firm developed a nationwide retail brokerage network to market its various debt and equity securities.

"Mr. Simmons stressed to the brokerage network that we are continuing to try and put an 80's situation behind us as soon as possible," he said.

Merrill's huge retail brokerage network is notably efficient at selling stock.

Separately, Merrill would have acquired Rothschild's retail brokerage network, the source said.

In the process, it has sacrificed its proud heritage as a conspiracy against the public, becoming instead the nerve center for a national brokerage network.

However, Merrill Lynch was a relatively "retail-focused" firm with a large brokerage network.

He emphasized how important the retail brokerage network was to the company's future, but offered no such assessment of asset management.

Merrill's core business, its retail brokerage network, held up better than investment banking and trading, declining only 4 percent for the quarter.

Merrill executives said the system would eventually be used throughout the firm's brokerage network, which is the largest in the country.

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