Merrill's Thain asks for no bonus for 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch said on Monday that Chief Executive John Thain, who agreed to sell the brokerage to Bank of America earlier this year, has requested that he not receive a bonus for 2008.

Thain told a board meeting Monday the decision was appropriate "given current economic and market conditions."

The decision by Thain and other senior executives to request that a bonus not be given comes at a time when taxpayer sentiment has turned against Wall Street and its highly paid bankers, as financial companies have received billions of dollars in government money this year.

The other Merrill executives to skip bonuses are President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Fleming, Chief Financial Officer Nelson Chai, President of Global Wealth Management Robert McCann and General Counsel Rosemary Berkery, the company said in a statement.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack told employees on Monday he would not get a bonus for a second straight year and said the bank is changing compensation to tie it more closely to Morgan Stanley's long-term performance.

Although Merrill has not directly received any government funds, Bank of America has received $15 billion (10 billion pounds) through the U.S. government's Troubled Asset Relief Plan.

Earlier on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Thain had been seeking a bonus of $5 million to $10 million, citing people familiar with the situation.

A Merrill representative was not immediately available for comment.

The WSJ said Thain felt he deserved a bonus because he helped avert a much larger crisis at the firm by engineering its sale to Bank of America. But the compensation committee leaned toward denying Thain and other senior executives bonuses for this year, the newspaper was told.