John Thain has defended his stewardship of Merrill Lynch during the fourth quarter when the investment bank recorded $15.3bn in losses, saying: “The vast majority of losses were from the position that had been there since I started.”

Mr Thain’s remarks, in a CNBC interview on Monday, are consistent with the position he has maintained since those losses were announced on January 16 – namely, that most of Merrill’s red ink stemmed from legacy positions he inherited from his predecessor, Stan O’Neal, on becoming chief executive in December 2007.