John Thain is planning to boost senior management of Merrill Lynch's sales and trading division when he takes over as chairman and chief executive next month.

Thain, currently chief executive of NYSE Euronext, was confirmed as successor to Stan O'Neal by Merrill on Wednesday. O'Neal stepped down after Merrill was forced to make $7.9bn (€5.4bn) of writedowns on its collateralised debt and sub-prime mortgage-related exposure in the third quarter.