‘Tis the season for wirehouses to tweak their pay plans.

Merrill Lynch on Wednesday announced a new bonus for advisors who team up and grow revenues, as well as a redesigned broker-succession plan.

The firm left unchanged its basic payout grid.

Qualifying Merrill teams can earn a cash award of 10 percent of their incremental revenue growth over five years, with 2013 as the baseline. But they must double revenue over five years to qualify.

Merrill’s “revenue” number for advisors is generally higher than gross production, as it includes additional sources of earnings.

To get the new award, at least one member of a Merrill team has to have a CFP or CFA designation, and the team needs to meet other training and service criteria.

“Clients like teams because they know there’s a succession plan in place, and they can get their questions answered” when one team member is away, said Merrill spokeswoman Susan McCabe.

The bonus plan is part of a new Merrill Lynch Client Experience program, that encourages teams, goals-based planning and investment management, responsiveness and transparency.
The 10 percent award “is an incentive to reach that Merrill Lynch Client Experience,” McCabe said.
            
Merrill is also changing its succession-planning program to allow retiring advisors to stick around and receive a salary as they transition out of a team.

The firm will pay these “Active Senior Consultants” a salary of up to 160 percent of their trailing 12-month's production over two to four years.

The payout is the same as it was under an older program, “but in the past, when they would give up their books, they would leave,” McCabe said. “Now they can stay on in consultant role.”

Separately, Morgan Stanley this week announced some tweaks to its pay plan for next year, bumping up some of its grid thresholds by 10 percent. UBS Financial Services also reportedly increased some of its grid levels and production minimums, while boosting bonuses for financial planning and making it easier for advisors to qualify for expense accounts.