Merrill Lynch pensioners miss out on inflation rise

Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank, has scrapped a cost-of-living increase for its UK pensioners to cut expenses after taking $37bn (£18.5bn) of write-downs from the credit crunch. The bank, which reports second-quarter results today, has written to its British pensioners telling them they would not receive the discretionary payment, which has been made for several years. “Merrill Lynch will base its 2009 decision on all the circumstances existing at that time and make a decision that is in the best interest of the company,” the bank said in its letter.