Mergers and acquisitions trend certainly represents one of the main characteristics of modern global business system. Year after year the world economy is increasing in complexity and therefore banks must remain flexible and improve their efficiency through continuous changes and adjustments. One of the ways to do this is by integration. Financial industry historically was very active in this field and it was always somewhere at the top by number of mergers and acquisitions, as well as the total value of transactions. Development in technology that occurred in the late 20th and the early 21st century in computer science, telecommunications, transport and other fields enabled the smooth transmission of large amounts of data and information around the world, thereby affecting the development of many different industries, including financial industry. Securitization and derivatives are among the most important products of financial engineering in recent history. They have improved financial operations and increased banks’ profits as well as other financial institutions. But they are also one of the main reasons why the 2007 financial crisis occurred. The crisis has led to the collapse of many companies, and banks have been no exception. After the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch supposed to be the next victim. But by Bank of America takeover Merrill Lynch avoided bankruptcy. This master thesis describes the motives that led to the takeover, then the process of takeover itself and finally success of the mentioned integration on further banks operations.