According to its latest quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Merrill Lynch has shed about 1,600 brokers over the past six months.

Merrill reports that its Private Client Group employed approximately 18,600 financial advisors at the end of the second quarter. This is down from 20,200 at the end of 2000. The firm attributes the reduction in the first six months of 2001 to “attrition, significantly reduced hiring of trainees and the consolidation of offices”.

Second quarter 2001 net revenues for the Private Client Group were US$2.6 billion, 14% below the second quarter of last year and pre-tax earnings were US$293 million, 6% lower than the second quarter of 2000.

The 2001 second quarter pre-tax profit margin was 11.4%, up from 10.4% in the second quarter of 2000. This improved pre-tax margin was achieved despite the inclusion of severance expenses and charges related to the sale or exit of various business components in the group’s second quarter 2001 results. Excluding these items, the group’s pre-tax margin for the quarter was 14.4 %. Most of these gains were made in the United States, results for its international division was flat.