Merrill Lynch has appointed two company veterans to ensure its equity research remains independent and complies with the terms of the agreement struck with Eliot Spitzer, New York State Attorney General, in May.

Mark Goldfus, a former regulator who has been at Merrill for 17 years, is to act as compliance monitor for the bank's research activities. His job will be to make sure Merrill fulfils all demands made by Spitzer, who labelled Merrill's research as "tainted" by conflicts of interest earlier this year.