Merrill Lynch executives have outlined a sweeping plan to help Bank of America raise profit margins within its Global Wealth and Investment Management division from roughly 25 percent to 30 percent. AdvisorHub reports that, during Bank of America's Investor Day, Merrill Co-Heads Lindsay Hans and Eric Schimpf described a strategy built around advisor expansion, fee-based growth, and deeper integration with the bank's vast consumer and workplace client base.
Hans emphasized that "advisor-driven flows are a core part of our organic growth," noting the critical role advisors will play in expanding Merrill's reach across the bank's substantial network. According to AdvisorHub, Merrill currently oversees about 15,000 advisors across its wealth offerings, including the private bank. The firm aims to grow that number primarily through its advisor training program, which has more than 2,400 participants, and through experienced broker recruiting that restarted two years ago. Schimpf highlighted that the firm has achieved "historic lows" in attrition and has doubled its recruited assets compared to the last recruiting cycle.
A key component of Merrill's roadmap is turning Bank of America's existing relationships into wealth management clients. The executives noted an untapped pool of approximately 11.5 million clients across the bank's consumer, business, and workplace units. Only about 1.5 million currently have relationships with the wealth division. AdvisorHub reports that Merrill is also prioritizing a shift from brokerage to fee-based advisory accounts, which generate recurring revenue. As of the end of the third quarter, 53 percent of client assets were in brokerage accounts and 47 percent in advisory accounts.
According to AdvisorHub, Schimpf described lending as the "most cost-efficient" source of profit because loan-related revenue flows directly to the bank rather than to advisor compensation. The firm plans to increase lending and deposit balances by up to 150 percent in the medium term, from $370 billion to as much as $525 billion, by expanding access to securities-based lending, custom credit, and mortgage products.
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