Page 46 - Investment Advisor May 2021

BROKER-DEALER BEAT

By Jeff Berman

Merrill Launches Account Overview

Videos for Clients

Also, advisors lose 19% of client assets, on average, when they change

firm affiliations, on top of planned attrition, Cerulli found.

errill Lynch clients who
would prefer to see their
M investment and banking
details by watching a short video rather
than combing through multiple PDFs,
apps and screens across multiple finan-
cial services firms now have that option
with the launch of the company’s Digital
Wealth Overview tool.
Digital Wealth Overview is a three-
minute, highly personalized, interac-
tive video presentation that is narrated
by Erica, Merrill parent company Bank
of America’s virtual assistant. Merrill
believes it is the first company in the
wealth management industry to lever- A DIFFERENTIATING TOOL already send to clients,” such as wel-
age personalized videos, it said. The company developed Wealth come kits for new IAP clients and the
With the push of a button, Merrill Overview in response to feedback report that an advisor sends to a client
financial advisors can send the Digital from advisors and clients, and presents after an annual review is completed, he
Wealth Overview video to a client with another way for Merrill to differentiate noted. The existing portfolio summary
real-time information securely, accord- its offerings from rivals, he said. only reviewed the client’s IAP account
ing to the company, which provided The product presents clients with details, he added.
Investment Advisor with a demo. data from all their Merrill accounts “Advisors will be able to create these
The new video tool was rolled out “in a single, consolidated view” that [new] reports for clients on an ad hoc
to clients March 29, along with Wealth includes investment advisory accounts, basis as they see fit throughout the year,”
Overview Personal Wealth Summary brokerage accounts and bank- he said.
(PWS), a new report that supports com- ing accounts they have with Merrill Unlike PWS reports, Digital Wealth
prehensive discussions between advi- and Bank of America, along with any Overview videos will not be automati-
sor and clients by combining data from accounts they have at other companies cally sent to clients, he noted, explain-
all of the client’s Merrill and Bank of that they give the company permission ing: “Advisors will decide which clients
America accounts and also accounts to include, he explained. they would like to send it to and when.
held away from Merrill at other firms, “This holistic view definitely sup- Because it’s basically a new way of com-
the company said. ports more comprehensive discussions municating with clients and it’s digital
“Wealth Overview is a new way between advisors and clients, and pres- and it’s a video, we wanted to give the
that we’re going to engage clients who ents the ability to drill deeper into asset power to advisors to determine when
are enrolled” in the firm’s fee-based, allocation [and] holding performance of and how to use this particular tool.”
fiduciary investment advisory pro- their IAP accounts so that IAP is consid- Digital Wealth Overview will be
gram (IAP), said Carl Swanson, head of ered in the context of the client’s overall delivered securely by advisors to their
Advisor and Client Experience in the financial picture,” he said. clients’ MyMerrill accounts, which can
Investment Solutions Group at Bank PWS will “replace the portfolio be accessed via Android and iOS mobile Adobe Stock
of America. summary in existing reports that we devices as well as desktop browsers, he

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