Merrill Lynch increased its hiring of experienced brokers in 2025 compared to 2024, according to Lindsay Hans, one of the firm's two co-presidents. AdvisorHub reports that Hans made the comments after parent company Bank of America released its earnings results.
Hans emphasized declining advisor attrition, echoing remarks from Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Alistair Borthwick during the earnings call. Borthwick described fourth-quarter 2025 attrition as the lowest level the firm has seen in years and said Merrill financial advisors recognize the long-term value of the platform for both themselves and their clients.
AdvisorHub reports that executives did not disclose specific recruiting or retention figures. Merrill has previously stated that its historical attrition rate averages around 4 percent. While Borthwick noted an uptick in recruiting experienced advisors, he stressed that lateral hiring does not drive Merrill's overall strategy. Instead, the firm continues to prioritize its internal training pipeline, which has expanded to approximately 2,400 prospective advisors in recent years.
Hans and co-president Eric Schimpf also highlighted Merrill's ability to attract clients from across Bank of America's broader ecosystem. The bank serves approximately 69 million individual clients and 40,000 corporate clients across eight business lines. Hans described Merrill as uniquely positioned due to its scale and integrated access to both individual and business clients, a strategy that mirrors referral-driven approaches used by other major Wall Street firms, according to AdvisorHub.
Bank of America's Global Wealth Management and Investment unit, which includes the Private Bank, added 21,300 net new households in 2025, as reported by AdvisorHub. That marked the eighth consecutive year the unit exceeded 20,000 new households, although the total declined from 24,000 in the prior year and roughly 40,000 in 2023.
According to AdvisorHub, Merrill executives reported that at least 80 percent of new households added in 2025 held more than $500,000 in investable assets, an increase from 72 percent the year before. The firm also recorded a 14 percent year-over-year increase in households with $10 million or more in assets, driven largely by internal bank referrals. Hans noted that these high-net-worth clients entered through other Bank of America channels rather than directly through the Global Wealth and Investment Management unit.
To deepen existing relationships, the unit added approximately 40 new alternative investment funds to its platform in 2025 and reported a 42 percent increase in flows to those products.
Financial results reflected continued growth. Assets under management rose 16 percent year-over-year to $2.2 trillion. Merrill's total client balances, including investments, deposits, and loans, increased 12 percent to more than $4 trillion. The Private Bank's client balances grew 13 percent to $759 billion.
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