Merrill Holds Advisor Pay Steady for 2025

The 2024 plan, for its part, saw Merrill Lynch drop its five-year-old growth grid, which rewarded brokers for adding clients and accounts but penalized those who didn't grow their businesses. Second, the company ended a policy introduced in 2023 that reduced brokers' credit for transactions.

Merrill also rolled out a new growth award for 2024 that will continue to pay up to 12 basis points on net flows of up to $50 million. To qualify, brokers must attract three new client households with more than $500,000 in assets each, as well as boost their clients' prior-year total assets and liabilities by 7.5%, during the year.

Merrill's intent to keep its compensation plans steady in 2025 contrasts with plans revealed earlier this month by Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley's 2025 compensation plan includes a boost in incentives for financial advisors who share information about their client accounts with other parts of the bank, such as its private wealth operations, Graystone institutional management, corporate retirement unit and its corporate cash investment team.

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