Merrill Lynch Wealth Management formed about 21,300 net new relationships in 2025, according to Lindsay Hans and Eric Schimpf, who co-head the unit for Bank of America. This figure came in above 20,000 for the eighth year in a row, the two executives said during a quarterly earnings call.
There was significant success in recruiting more affluent clients, they noted, with 80% of net new relationships involving clients with $500,000 or more. Net new relationships in the $10 million-plus client segment grew 14%.
When discussing trends in what Merrill advisors are doing for their existing clients, Hans and Schimpf said tax management solutions grew increasingly popular in 2025 due to high levels of unrealized gains. The firm conducted more than 150,000 tax-savings analysis reports during the year, representing some $1.6 billion in potential tax savings, they noted.
Asset Levels
The combined assets of Bank of America's retail channel, private bank and Merrill Wealth Management reached $6.5 trillion as of the end of 2025 — with Merrill handling $4 trillion in client balances as of Dec. 31, up 12% from a year earlier.
Net flows for assets under management were $20 billion in the fourth quarter and $82 billion for 2025, which is up 3% from full-year 2024.
The wealth unit reported revenue of $6.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 10% from the prior year. This growth was supported by $4.1 billion in asset management fees, which grew 13% from the year-ago period. Net income grew 20% year over year to $1.4 billion.
For the full year, Hans and Schimpf said, revenue reached $20.7 billion, up more than $3 billion from 2024.
In 2025, fee-based accounts reached $1.7 trillion, up 17% from the prior year. Fee-based momentum should continue in 2026 due to broader secular trends and the firm’s unique position of having $2 trillion on its own brokerage platform ripe for direct transition to investment advisory, they added.
Advisor Training
Hans and Schimpf were joined on the earnings call by Kenneth Correa, head of business and client development at Merrill, who spoke about how the firm is investing in its advisor force. The recently launched “Level Up” training program has been a big early success, Correa said.
The program matches advisors at different lengths of service with fast-growing advisors. The vision behind the program, Correa said, is to ensure that advisors continue to receive advanced training and practice management consulting support throughout their Merill careers, not just at the start.
Hans and Schimpf additionally cited the importance of the firm’s next-generation advisor training program, which currently includes a class of about 2,400 advisors.
Recruiting and Retention
During the call, the executives declined to share exact information about the firm’s year-end advisor headcount or its average profitability or revenue performance per advisor, but they said the firm enjoyed “advisor attrition at historical lows.”
The wirehouse last shared details on its headcount in early November, when it reported having 15,000 advisors within both Merrill and BofA’s private banking unit. Adding advisors tied to BofA’s consumer investment business, the count was over 18,000.
Hans emphasized that the firm isn’t taking its retention success lightly, repeatedly referring to “a very competitive environment” in terms of advisor recruiting.
“We don’t take anything for granted, but we’re proud of our efforts to drive low levels of attrition,” she said, noting that the firm feels its scale, culture and broad suite of interconnected services give it a very strong value proposition in the recruiting effort.
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