RETAIL INVESTOR LEAKS TAPE: Merrill Lynch Banker Admits Bank 'Takes Side of Institutional Investors'

• Anthony Daniels, BOAML Employee: “If I take the Merrill name badge off of my shirt right now, watching what’s been going on today [Jan. 28], it's very clear to me that it looks like they've [BOAML] taken the side of the institutional investors.”
• Daniels: “So, you have 12,584 shares of BNGO. That's essentially your only holding in the account.”
• Daniels: “You got your account all exposed to one stock -- that has a potential extra risk involved there. So, they [BOAML] are increasing the margin requirements to 75% from the initial 30% to manage the risk in the account.”
• Bank of America responds: “We don’t take sides or favor one group of investors. We took a number of steps during the unprecedented market volatility, including adjusting client margin requirements for stocks that were at the center of that volatility.”