Bank of America is nearly doubling the number of its financial advisors by hiring 500 people by the end of this year to help what the bank calls its preferred customers, defined as those with $50,000 to $250,000 in assets.
The advisors will work with those customers on investments and other banking needs. BofA's Financial Solutions Advisors will be available in person at select branches, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Charlotte and Washington D.C., as well as being available by telephone in other areas through the Merrill Edge Advisory Center. Bank of America and Merrill Edge are parts of the same company.
According to a Merrill Edge Report, the top priorities for this group of customers are achieving a better retirement than their parents (85%), having access to both banking and investing solutions at one place (73%), and maintaining the ability to track and manage their money themselves and with the help of an advisor (72%).
Bank of America now serves 8 million people in the preferred customer category and the company would like more of those people, plus new customers, to take advantage of the new Merrill Edge services, which is why the bank has doubled the available staff, says Cary S. Grace, preferred sales executive in Bank of America's Consumer & Small Business Bank.
"Preferred customers have a complex set of needs and concerns that go beyond what the standard retail bank can offer, but they don't typically require a full-service financial advisor or a private banker," says Dean Athanasia, Bank of America preferred and small business banking executive.
"By placing more Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisors in banking centers through the country, we are better equipped to serve our preferred customers," Athanasia says. Merrill Edge is the marketing name for two businesses: Merrill Edge Advisory Center, which offers team-based advice and guidance brokerage services, and a self-directed online investing platform.
Customers will be able to make their own changes to any part of their banking assets online, get advice by phone or go to a center and talk with an advisor.
"We are targeting what we think are an underserved group of customers and providing personalized guidance," says Grace. "This also is a tremendous opportunity for the bank, as well as the customers."
Other BofA programs aimed at preferred customers introduced recently include specialty stores that provide in-person access to investment, small business and mortgage specialists and the use of technology such as video conferencing; introduction of a mobile application for iPad, iPhone and BlackBerry, and the addition of 481 new no-transaction fee mutual funds.
A new reward program for customers who maintain $50,000 or more in deposit balances or who invest balances with Merrill Edge also has been added that provides more services, and another 1,000 small business bankers in local communities have been added.
-Karen DeMasters