Sources close to the firm say Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoA)'s hire of 11 sales and trading staff from RBS Australia (RBS) marks a concerted push by the US bank to beef up its Australian fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) operation. Although neither BoA nor RBS is commenting on the hires, sources close to both firms emphasise that the 11 did not, as reported elsewhere, make a up a team at RBS but instead filled various roles across its markets division.