After negative coverage highlighting the outpouring of Merrill Lynch talent from BofA, it must have been with no little pleasure that BofA/Merrill Lynch announced that it had poached Goldman partner Sanaz Zaimi last week.
But how much did Zaimi cost? Rumour has it she didn’t come cheap.
Headhunters say Merrill paid up to $17m a year for Zaimi over a two year period. BofA didn’t immediately return a request for comment, but banks rarely comment on pay issues anyway.
The allegedly expensive acquisition of Zaimi follows claims that Merrill bankers are getting twitchy about their bonus prospects this year.
