Merrill Lynch hires Montag to head global trading

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co Inc MER.N said it hired Thomas Montag, former co-head of global securities trading at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), as Chief Executive John Thain looks to new talent to turn around the largest brokerage in the world.

Merrill Lynch has been courting Montag for months. Montag, 51, retired from Goldman Sachs in December after working at the firm for 22 years.

Merrill Lynch posted a $2 billion first-quarter loss earlier this month amid losses in subprime mortgages, collateralized debt obligations, and other risky instruments. It has recorded more than $30 billion of write-downs since the third quarter.

Thain has brought aboard other senior executives since taking the reins at Merrill late last year, including Nelson Chai, NYSE Euronext's (NYX.N) chief financial officer, who was hired in December. In January, Merrill Lynch named Noel Donohoe co-chief risk officer. Donohoe was a former chief risk officer at Goldman Sachs.

Thain himself was a 24-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, and headed NYSE Euronext before moving to Merrill Lynch.

(Reporting by Dan Wilchins, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Dave Zimmerman)