A 30-year veteran of the European debt markets is retiring from Bank of America Merill Lynch, opening the way for two of the bank's rising stars to take more prominent roles in its capital markets business.

Paul Richards has spent 28 years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, most recently running corporate banking and debt capital markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His only other role in finance was a short stint at Goldman Sachs in the early 1990s.