I am curious to hear what our new platform will be like (if any changes), and our management has told us absolutely nothing.  And no, I have no intention of doing anything remotely related to bank branch work. 

the poor merrill brokers. they just don’t know the bs that is ahead of them.

[quote=Rugby] [quote=iceco1d]Definitely good points Rugby…I’m just going on “publicly available information.”[/quote]

Listening to Ken Lewis press conference…He says no FED push or help…

if the bs gets too thick, there isn’t another firm on the street that wouldn’t love to have us (Goldman the possible exception).

I am a former ML’er (8 years), was at BofA for 3 plus and left when they shut down the bank in my little town. The “CM Model” you refer to will not come into play, at least at first. BofA has at most 2,500 CM’s or client managers whose banking clients meet standards that are basically similar to a premier client at ML.   Under the current BAI system, and FA can keep clients under $3 Million but are expected to refer those above to the Private bank/US Trust. The CM is heavily incented to do this. The CM is incented to grow deposits and new money with BofA. That can be through the BAI channel or BAI Discount. The most successful CM’s go through BAI Discount, though not all. The whole point is that a CM should be prospecing for you and the FA should be prospecting for his/her banker. The bankers are not really good sales people, though, so you end up working “walk-in” type business rather than the networking type business we were taught.



Overall, the platform will likely stay the same. I think, though (my opinion) that BofA will eventually cut comp since at the lowest on the street already, they always had a latent disdain for FA’s making what they are making.

You can find more detailed information on Client Managers if you search these forums.  It’s basically a glorified customer service representative in the bank that is supposed to feed the financial advisors with great referrals.  FA’s and CM’s are supposed to work together in uncovering assets.  Ken Lewis talked about it on today’s call with Thain:

That’s not going to work.  We don’t really “prospect” at Merrill…we have a very large, sustainable book of business, off of which we take an annual fee in exchange for the full suite of private banking services (and no, I’m not part of Merrill’s private wealth/bank group, just a regular FA).  When we do a good job for our clients, they refer us new business.  I cannot remember the last time I made an outgoing prospecting call.  We focus very hard on keeping the back-door shut, so that when the front door to new business does open through a referral or a walk-in, it’s immediately accretive to our business.  Going to that model that you speak of would be a complete 180 degree turn, and counterproductive in my humble opinion.  My clients are my clients…if they get referred to someone else once they hit $3 Million, they will no longer be a client of my firm, they’ll move their business.  And exactly one-half of my book is over $3 Million and one-half is under $3 Million, so would I classify as a CM or a private banker?  Hopefully they’ll just leave the Merrill model intact.  Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

I wasn’t laughing at them-I was laughing at the concept of Spirit Training.

cubfan:

You have no idea the bureacratic nightmare you are entering into. You are going from driving a Lexus to a "TAY-OTER" Camry. You better get your ducks in a row and go indy before you have to sign the non compete with BAISI.

Once you sign it you are FOOKED. They will aggressively enforce their agreement and take you into Arbitration in order to retain your assets.....Dont say I did nt warn you.....

What are the thoughts of the BAC guys for those Merrill offices in states with no BAC presence?  Will they be left alone?

Everyone realizes BAI is going to have ot make some changes.  Just watch to see who they put in charge of the FA’s.  If it is a BofA person then it will not be pretty.  Most of the BofA Investment management if they have any experience in this side of the business are flunkies from Dean Witter.  The vast majority came from the bank and have no idea how an FA does what he does.  They honestly think the the banker is the relationship manager and the FA provides an additional service.

I have only seen BAI go after one departing FA and that was because he pre-filled ACATs and New Accounts with Social Security numbers.  I think, in general, they are pretty lax about it. 

The integration can't be any worse than AG Edwards v Wachovia right. When all was said & done about 33% of the brokers departed edwards. I don't think BAC will loose anymore than that especially in this environment.

I think BAC is realizing that their in-house managers are horrible.  They’ve pretty much admitted that they couldn’t expand beyond 2,000 reps and they tried to keep most of US Trust intact.  I agree that the lower level managers are basically finished, especially if they want ML brokers to stay.

BACFA, there is no way that 15,000 + 2,000 FA’s are going to be paired up with 1-2 CM’s since there are less than 2,500.  BAI is going to have to come up with a WB like model.  ML FA’s are at a much higher grid as well.  You think they are just going to up the BAI grid overnight with the MER purchase?  There is a 25% difference in comp plus they actually have a long term incentive plan.  The bankers will birth bricks if it remaines intact!

I wonder how the enviroment for those huge transition checks will change.  The last I heard, Morgan Stanley was still writing 100%+ deals.  Those may dry up with the influx of crabby brokers.

Yes, boamigo, I agree on the WB model.  That’s what I wrote earlier.  I was just commenting on the “model” for cubfan.

Well seeing as this deal closes 1Q 09 I’ll bet they will have the retention deals out by Thanksgiving…makes for a real turkey holiday.

BACFA, I heard the exact same thing.  So that is why I wonder about the “model”.  I was doing well when I had Business banking and was the designated FA for the PB.  But, they pulled back to the big city and left river city a collection of banking centers with nothing.  Two weeks after I pulled the cord, they eliminated Premier in the market.

I feel for you guys…the only thing I could have imagined worse than being bought by WB was being bought by BOA…I can’t imagine trying to integrate MER and BAC…talk about polar opposites wow…at least WS had alot of similarities to AGE for our merger.