Merrill brings Kronthal back in the fold

Merrill Lynch will bring back former bond executive Jeffrey Kronthal as a consultant on its portfolio of subprime-mortgage assets, which have sustained large losses, according to published reports.
He will advise the firm’s fixed-income business and risk management and will advise David Sobotka, who became head of fixed income, currencies and commodities in October, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Kronthal and a group of other senior fixed-income executives were let go in the middle of 2006, and the absence of their risk oversight that has been cited as a factor in the buildup of mortgage assets that led to a $7.9 billion write-down in the third quarter, according to the report in the Journal.
The losses triggered a record $2.2 billion loss in the third quarter and the retirement of Merrill chief executive E. Stanley O’Neal, who retired on Oct. 30.

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