Bank Of America Merrill's Forbes To Leave Asia - Memo

Bank of America named Merrill Lynch veteran Jayanti Bajpai as Head of Corporate and Investment Banking for the Asia-Pacific region, replacing Jim Forbes, who is leaving his role three months after taking it on, according to a memo seen by Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.

Bajpai, a Merrill Lynch veteran of 22 years, will be responsible for corporate and investment banking for Asia Pacific excluding Japan and will be based in Hong Kong. He is currently based in Mumbai.

Forbes, formerly a New York-based healthcare banker for Merrill Lynch, was named head of corporate and investment banking for Bank of America in the Asia Pacific region in November last year.

"Jim Forbes will be returning to the U.S. from Hong Kong due to the health of a family member and will be exploring other opportunities inside the company," the memo said.

He replaced Damian Chunilal, who was head of Pacific Rim investment banking. Bajpai was formerly head of investment banking for India as well as Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. In his new role, he will be responsible for Asia Pacific but not Japan, which is under the remit of Jiro Seguchi for investment banking and Shigeo Nishimoto for corporate banking.

Forbes' role had included responsibilities for Japan.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) completed its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co in early January.

-By Nisha Gopalan, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832-2343; [e-mail]