As financial giant Merrill Lynch considers moving its headquarters to Midtown from Lower Manhattan, pressure is increasing from city and state officials lobbying the bank against relocating.

“I can say we’re going to work like hell to see that Merrill Lynch stays in Lower Manhattan, where it belongs,” the president of New York’s Empire State Development Corporation, Avi Schick, said yesterday.

Mr. Schick has been in numerous discussions with the bank about its office space, and the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, yesterday told reporters he is meeting next week with the firm to urge its presence downtown.

Mr. Schick’s pledge is mirrored by statements from the city, as Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff on Tuesday told The New York Sun: “We’re doing everything we reasonably can” to keep the firm in Lower Manhattan.

Merrill Lynch is the latest of many financial titans the city and state have urged to move to or stay downtown. The two governments in June announced an agreement with JPMorgan Chase to construct a tower near the World Trade Center site, and in 2005, Goldman Sachs was lured to build a new headquarters downtown with an estimated $600 million in subsidies.

However, many find the heavy tug from the state and city irksome, as it creates an unnecessary atmosphere of intra-borough competition for an entity that is not threatening to leave the city. “The city’s economy has to be looked at as a whole — not taking efforts and resources to pit one neighborhood against another,” the director of a development accountability group, Good Jobs New York, Bettina Damiani, said. Location decisions within the five boroughs are best left up to companies themselves, Ms. Damiani said, as the city will reap the benefits regardless.

The state has significant office space in both downtown and Midtown, and Governor Spitzer, who worked downtown as attorney general, has his New York City office based in Midtown.

Merrill Lynch’s lease in the World Financial Center, located just west of the World Trade Center Site, expires in 2013, and the firm is said to be looking at three locations: the site of Vornado Realty Trust’s Hotel Pennsylvania, just east of Pennsylvania Station; one of the new World Trade Center towers, developed by Silverstein Properties, and its existing building, owned by Brookfield Properties.

Mr. Schick indicated the state was unlikely to award any additional subsidies beyond incentives that are already in place. “I don’t anticipate that a deal with Merrill Lynch will necessitate cash subsidies from the government at all,” Mr. Schick told reporters.

The city has pledged to no longer award special subsidies for downtown development, though there are a numerous attractive incentives available to businesses downtown, especially those moving to the World Trade Center site.

Mr. Silver, a Democrat who represents Lower Manhattan, defended the existing subsidies, many of which he pushed through the Legislature. With the substantial office space from the ground zero towers slated to open within a short period, subsidies are necessary to help fill the buildings quickly, he said.

As for Merrill Lynch, Mr. Silver said he would push hard to keep it downtown.

“I would like to see whatever it takes to keep them here,” Mr. Silver said.

Mr. Silver was one of a flock of officials, architects, and members of the press at a function hosted by Silverstein Properties, which released updated designs of its three World Trade Center towers yesterday. In addition to Messrs. Silver and Schick, speakers at the event included the executive director of the Port Authority, Anthony Shorris, and the president of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, Joseph Daniels. No city officials spoke.

Mayor Bloomberg received strong financial support from Merrill Lynch while he was building his financial news service business, Bloomberg LP. The banking giant has about a 20% stake in Bloomberg LP today, though Mr. Bloomberg has separated himself from the operations of business.