Bank of America's Merrill Wealth Management division reported several positive trends from the firm's second quarter ended June 30 that, in a Tuesday conference call with reporters, the division's two new co-heads largely credited to Merrill Wealth Management's strategy and increased client growth.
Overall, BofA reported net income rose 19% to $7.4 billion, or 88 cents per diluted share, compared with $6.2 billion, or 73 cents per diluted share for Q2 2022. BofA revenue, net of interest expense, grew 11% to $25.2 billion.
But global wealth management income fell 15% to $978 million, and revenue fell 4% to $5.2 billion from a year ago, "driven by lower equity and fixed income market valuations," the firm said.
Lindsay Hans and Eric Schimpf, who were named co-heads of Merrill Wealth Management in March, replacing Andy Sieg, provided reporters with several trends and updates during an earnings call with reporters.
Here are five top trends they cited on the call:
1. It was a strong quarter for advisor recruiting.
Merrill added 190 advisors in the second quarter, Schimpf told reporters. That boosted the total number of Merrill advisors to 19,099, which was up 4% year over year.
Schimpf declined to give a breakdown on where each of the new advisors came from, including from recruitment and Merrill's training program. "But I will tell you we're very proud [of] all of the ways … we bring new, experienced advisors into the firm," he said.
2. The firm is seeing early success from its new training program.
Merrill is seeing strong initial signs from its new advisor training program, Schimpf said, adding it "will continue to be a primary way that we develop advisors."
There are currently "over 2,000 advisors at some various stage of the training program today," he added.
3. Merrill is going full speed ahead with its management restructuring.
One "critical priority during our first three months" as Merrill co-heads was "establishing our dual leadership team," according to Schimpf.
