Three former Merrill Lynch executives approached Ken Lewis, Bank of America chief executive, in April to discuss buying back some or all of “Mother Merrill”, their old company but were politely rebuffed, the Financial Times has learnt.

The trio – Dan Tully, former Merrill chief executive; Launny Steffens, former head of Merrill’s private client business; and Winthrop Smith Jr, son of one of Merrill’s co-founders – flew to BofA’s hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, to meet Mr Lewis and float the idea, Mr Smith said on Thursday.