Merrill Lynch has enough capital and access to cash to pay off some $50bn (€32.3bn) of debt due in the next year and to rebuild its financial strength, company executives said.

"We're very, very comfortable with the balance sheet that we have and, more importantly, the credit quality that's on the balance sheet," Nelson Chai, Merrill's chief financial officer, said Monday at a conference sponsored by UBS. Chai and Eric Heaton, Merrill's treasurer, attempted to assuage concerns that Merrill will have to raise more equity to maintain its strength as its difficult-to-value assets and its exposure to weak counterparties rise.