Merrill Lynch Japan Securities, Merrill's new company, will open 29 of 33 Japanese offices in July, executives of the company told a news conference. The remaining four will be opened in or after August.

Executives said varying stages of readiness necessitated the staggered opening schedule.

"There are places that need to be renovated and staff are in different stages of training," said Kunihiko Kumagai, deputy president of the new company.

Merrill Lynch stunned the Japanese investment community earlier this year when it announced it would form a domestic retail chain out of the ashes of failed Yamaichi Securities, which holds its final shareholders' meeting on Friday.

Merrill's move, which includes the hiring of about 2,000 former Yamaichi staffers, has come to symbolise Japan's BigBang reforms of its financial industry.

In addition to the branch opening time table, Merrill executives also said the company would initially offer 24 investment trust products, about half of which would concentrate on domestic Japanese securities.

Like other Merrill Lynch retail operations around the world, it will accept only electronic transfers of funds for payments on services and financial products, the executives said.

Branches are expected to be open from 8.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m., the executives said. Whether the branches will open at weekends has yet to be decided.Merrill Lynch will hold a Grand Opening on July 8 for the entire chain in downtown Tokyo.