Stan O'Neal, chief executive of Merrill Lynch, has warned of another depressed year ahead, indicating that he expects revenues to fall in 2003.

Merrill Lynch made a profit of $2.6bn (€2.43bn) in 2002, compared with $573m in 2001 - when Merrill paid a $1.7bn restructuring charge. But net revenues for 2002 fell 15% to $18.6bn. Cost cutting was largely responsible for increased operating margins and profits in 2002 - non interest expenses fell by nearly 20%. About 2,300 Merrill employees lost their jobs in the fourth quarter, taking the number of full-time staff to 50,900 - which is 21,700 fewer than September 2000.