Merrill pulls back from Asian fixed income research

In this year's FinanceAsia fixed income research poll - published on this website last week - Merrill Lynch finished eighth. It also did so the year before. However, in the preceding four years, Merrill dominated the poll - in large part thanks to Chris Francis, who then relocated to London.Now, as part of Merrill's overall re-evaluation of its Asian businesses, the once mighty fixed income research franchise has been pared back. In a major move made yesterday it has decided to scale …