The second quarter also marked the launch of the bank's new online brokerage, Merrill Edge, which received 20,000 referrals resulting in 7,000 contacts, according to the company.
Bank of America continues to push for referrals between the bank and brokerage, adding "financial solutions advisors" to act as gatekeepers in the bank branches directing potential clients to the right investment arm of the company, and "wealth management bankers" to work as the liaison to the bank branches in the Merrill Lynch branch offices.
When the bank acquired Merrill Lynch, it lost thousands of legacy Merrill advisors initially, many of whom didn't want to be part of a big bank conglomerate and worried they would have to start pushing bank products. But since the initial outflow of advisors in the first quarter of 2009, Merrill Lynch's headcount has remained stable in the 15,000 range. And many of the remaining advisors are taking advantage of the additional revenue referrals can provide.
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