Brokerage firm Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay $160 million to settle a class-action race discrimination lawsuit…More than 1,200 current and former Merrill Lynch employees could be eligible to take part in the settlement, one of the largest sums obtained from an employer in a race bias lawsuit. Since the lawsuit was filed in 2005, Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America Corp…"We are working toward a very positive resolution of a lawsuit filed in 2005 and enhancing opportunities for African American financial advisers," Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said…Lead plaintiff George McReynolds, a black broker who has worked for Merrill Lynch for 30 years, sued his employer, saying it had a segregated workforce, including policies that steered black brokers into clerical positions and reassigned their accounts to white workers.