Merrill Lynch has appointed Todd Kaplan, chief operating officer of its global markets and investment banking division, as head of global leveraged finance as part of a reshuffle in the leveraged banking team.

In his new role, Kaplan, who was head of corporate finance before becoming chief operating officer of the global markets and investment banking division at Merrill Lynch, will continue to report to Greg Fleming and Dow Kim, co-presidents of the division at the US investment bank.