Merrill Lynch has become a significant source of stable, fee-based revenue for Bank of America, generating more than $5 billion in quarterly revenue. According to AdvisorHub, Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said that expanding Merrill's business will require the firm to recruit more experienced financial advisors.
Moynihan made the comments during a presentation at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference. He said Merrill's quarterly revenue now stands at two or three times the size of Bank of America's investment banking fees and approaches the revenue generated by its trading unit.
Moynihan identified asset growth through experienced broker recruiting as a priority. "It really comes down to a little more recruiting," he told AdvisorHub. "The key is just to have more advisors and deploy more advisors now."
Merrill, Morgan Stanley and UBS Wealth Management USA largely withdrew from recruiting veteran brokers in 2017 after recruiting packages became increasingly expensive. All three firms have resumed recruiting in recent years.
Moynihan said Merrill now focuses on recruiting the advisors it wants across its approximately 600 offices in 97 markets. AdvisorHub reported that Moynihan did not discuss the current state of recruiting offers, which have reached 550% of trailing-12 revenue for top teams. Merrill increased its offers to approximately 400% of trailing-12 revenue nearly two years ago, bringing its packages roughly in line with those of its peers.
Merrill reported in February that its forgivable loan total increased 48% year-over-year to $375 million. Firm executives said in January that Merrill hired more experienced brokers in 2025 than it did the previous year while maintaining its lowest attrition rate in several years.
Moynihan also credited Merrill Co-Heads Lindsay Hans and Eric Schimpf for their work before calling for additional recruiting.
Merrill has continued to add experienced talent. Most recently, the firm recruited a Morgan Stanley private wealth team in McLean, Virginia, that manages $1.2 billion in assets. In June, Merrill also hired a veteran Morgan Stanley manager to help oversee branches in Connecticut, western Massachusetts and portions of New York.
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