It is also getting an arms-length relationship with its own mutual funds.

I just don't like mutual funds. I think they're a rip-off.

The best argument for mutual funds is that they offer safety and diversification. But they don't necessarily offer safety and diversification.

The corporate killer downsizing is directly responsive to what the mutual funds have wanted.

We don't even know if there is a deal, let alone any financial terms. So, it's premature to make an assessment of whether this is a good deal or not. There aren't a whole lot of synergies to be found.

Merrill ends up with just as much exposure, if not more, to the asset management business as they did before, but they're able to remove the asset management business from under the Merrill umbrella, thereby reducing the potential conflicts of interest of running both an asset management business as well a brokerage business.