NEW YORK (AP) – Robert J. McCann, a Merrill Lynch veteran who oversaw the company’s stock-research department until March 1, is returning as an executive vice president overseeing the company’sbrokerage, research and money-management operations, Merrill said Tuesday.

McCann, who joined Axa Financial as vice chairman in June, will report to E. Stanley O’Neal, Merrill Lynch’s chairman and chief executive.

McCann returns to Merrill following an upheaval that saw the ouster two weeks ago of the firm’s No. 2 executive, Thomas Patrick, after a clash with O’Neal, as well as the announced retirement last week of Arshad Zakaria, whom Patrick had unsuccessfully backed as the firm’s next president.

Zakaria was head of global markets and investment banking.

According to a story in The New York Times, McCann left Merrill because he didn’t get along with Patrick. McCann’s departure came amid the heavy scrutiny on research, but he said at the time his decision to leave was unrelated.

Merrill was one of 10 Wall Street companies that agreed to pay a total of $1.4 billion to settle charges of issuing misleading research in order to win investment banking business.

McCann headed Merrill’s research division from October 2001 and was among Chief Executive E. Stanley O’Neal’s first senior appointments.

By bringing back McCann, O’Neal appears to be attempting to counter the perception that Merrill has suffered a wave of high-level defections sine he gained the top job in mid-2001.

Paul Critchlow, a spokesman for Merrill, said O’Neal called McCann last week and discussed his return to Merrill in a new management role over dinner.

McCann accepted over the weekend and executives were notified Monday.

McCann had several roles at Merrill before taking on the research chief post.

For example, he ran equity trading for Merrill during the stock market crash of 1987 and ran institutional sales for the firm during the Long Term Capital hedge fund debacle in 1998. He first joined the company in 1982.