- Bank of America is behind on its wealth target. CEO Brian Moynihan said the firm has brought about $65 billion of new assets into fee-generating accounts at Merrill and its other wealth businesses this year and is on track for $80 billion by year-end, but reaching the $135 billion to $150 billion a year targeted for 2028 to 2030 will require it to “double those [numbers],” American Banker reported. “Obviously, we’ve got our work to do here,” he said.
- Morgan Stanley sets the pace. Merrill and Bank of America’s private bank hold $5.1 trillion in client assets, including investments, deposits and loans, but Morgan Stanley, with just over $8.4 trillion, brought in $280 billion of net new assets in the third quarter alone, much of it from employees of private firms selling stock in IPOs.
- The bank’s own customers are the opportunity. Moynihan estimated that 5 million high-net-worth customers of the retail and other banks do not use its wealth services, plus roughly 1 million workplace-benefits clients. Co-President Dean Athanasia said capturing just 1.5% to 2% of those high-net-worth clients’ assets would add $100 billion, and referrals are up 25% year over year.
- Profitability is improving from a low base. Moynihan called wealth management “our least efficient business,” with a pretax margin of roughly 28% against a 30% target for 2028 to 2030, though Global Wealth & Investment Management net income has risen 31% year over year so far in 2026 to $4 billion.
What Happened?
Moynihan spoke last week at the BancAnalysts Association of Boston Conference. To lift inflows, the bank is expanding its advisor force through a training program with roughly 2,500 enrollees and more recruiting from rivals; Moynihan said it has had “one of our best recruiting years ever” with attrition at about a decade low. So far this year, 130,000 customers have been referred between wealth management and other businesses, and roughly 45% of the private bank’s new clients came from those introductions. Loans arranged through the wealth business rose 12% year over year to $283 billion, and 25,000 wealth professionals now use AI to automate routine tasks.
Why It Matters?
Wealth managers increasingly measure success by assets rather than advisor headcount, and the gap with Morgan Stanley shows how much ground Merrill must make up. The bank’s edge is its retail franchise: if referrals keep converting, it can grow assets without paying for every advisor team it recruits. Competition for advisors remains intense, from wirehouses such as Wells Fargo, which is seeing its own recruiting resurgence, to independent broker-dealers and RIAs offering generous transition deals. Recruiter Louis Diamond said Merrill’s advisor losses seem back to normal levels and “not as elevated as they were a couple of years ago,” and credited the firm with wins such as a $1.2 billion UBS duo in Santa Fe and a $1.5 billion Morgan Stanley team in Boulder.
What’s Next?
The first checkpoint is whether Bank of America reaches its $80 billion inflow pace by year-end, followed by progress toward the 30% pretax margin and the $135 billion to $150 billion annual target for 2028 to 2030. Watch banking cross-sell as well: 42% of Merrill clients still do not hold bank deposits with the firm, and alternative-investment flows rose 16% year over year, with the firm estimating private bank clients could eventually hold $260 billion in alternatives.
Affected Tickers and Coins: BAC, MS, WFC, UBS
Source: American Banker
