BofA Merrill Lynch Plan Launch - Analyst Blog

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the investment banking and wealth management division of the Bank of America (BAC), has recently announced the launch of a program which involves a group of 500 advisers for its institutional retirement planning aimed at luring more bank clients to advisory force.
           
The selected group will take in the institutional retirement-planning referrals that come from the banking side. According to the plan, a group of 500 Merrill advisers will initially attract retirement plan business from the bank's investment and commercial bank units under three teams.

The first group of with about 250 advisers will be the most qualified ones, experienced in working with 410(K) plans. They will work with businesses with less than $10 million in the Retirement Plan Referral Network. They will also be the sole advisers on any retirement account under $50 million for businesses they find on their own, without the referral program.

The second group of advisers will be Designated Defined Contribution Advisers, with greater experience. This set of advisers will handle retirement-account referrals that are more than $10 million and are coming from the bank, and all new retirement accounts of $50 million or more. Nearly 100 advisers are a part of the Designated Defined Contribution group.

The third group of advisers will be the Designated Equity Compensation Advisers. It includes team of 10 to 15 advisers who will work with corporate customers who manage equity compensation plans for employees, a business that will also be referred to by commercial and investment bankers.

The combination of the two banks in 2008 has made a sound strategic fit, combining BofA's strength in retail markets with Merrill's strengths in investment banking and private client broking.

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