BofA Brokerage Chief Thiel Says Merrill Strategy Working
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Bank of America Corp. brokerage head John Thiel, who boosted incentives for financial advisers to steer clients to more of the lender’s products, said the firm’s strategy to garner more fees is taking hold.
Clients’ concerns about the so-called fiscal cliff helped increase fourth-quarter revenue as investors took gains ahead of higher tax rates, Thiel said today in a memo to employees. Profit in the Merrill Lynch brokerage more than doubled from a year earlier to $578 million, while assets under management rose almost 10 percent to $698.1 billion and related fees reached a record $1.6 billion.