BofA Posts Loss; Wealth Group Profit Slows: Q1 Earnings

The total level of client assets in Merrill Lynch accounts stood at $1.95 trillion versus $1.92 trillion in the prior quarter and $1.81 trillion a year ago, and the group's revenue for Q1 was $3.76 billion — compared with $3.70 billion in Q4 '13 and $3.68 billion in Q1 '13.

The company says asset management fees totaled about $1.5 billion in the period, up 21% from the year-ago quarter.

The number of financial advisors, though, dropped by 47 to 13,725 for the quarter, primarily driven by continued attrition of  underperforming advisor trainees in its Practice Management Development program.

Advisor productivity, or yearly fees and commissions, were $1.3 million per experienced advisor; total advisor productivity is roughly $1.06 million as of Q1 '14, up from $1.04 in Q4 '13 and $971,000 in Q1 '13.

"As of March, 45% of our advisors had 50% or more of their client assets under a fee-based relationship," the bank said in a statement.

The company notes that one-third of Merrill revenue comes from brokerage operations, one-third from fee-based business and one-third from net interest income from deposits and credits.

The Merrill Lynch One platform now includes some 98,000 accounts with $32 billion in assets. Some 5,000-plus advisors in five areas of the country have access to it.

"Feedback on the platform is positive with trends in the adoption of investment discipline through the leverage of firm traded models and an increase in [net new assets] in transitioning relationships," BofA said in a statement. It adds that it is "on track to complete deployment of the new platform by Q3'14 across Merrill Lynch Wealth Management."