Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank both saw their net new asset inflows hold steady in the first quarter, before economic turmoil began to roil markets.
Merrill and the private bank, both part of Bank of America's global wealth and investment management unit, reported Tuesday that they brought in nearly $24 billion in net client assets in the first quarter. That figure was virtually unchanged from the same period a year ago.
The inflow helped boost Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank's assets under management total by 7% year over to nearly $1.9 trillion. Those holdings produced $3.7 billion in management fees, a figure up 15% year over year.
All told, the global wealth and investment management unit saw its revenue rise 8% year over year to $6 billion. Merrill and the private bank's net income stayed virtually unchanged at $1 billion.
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"Thanks to the hard work of our advisors and the teams that support them, Merrill delivered record revenue in the first quarter through strong asset under management flows, loan growth and by welcoming new clients," Lindsay Hans,
Merrill and the private bank added roughly 7,200 client relationships in the first quarter. Of the new relationships with Merrill, 4,200 were with clients with $500,000 or more to invest.
The wealth management units also reported their tally for clients with $10 million or more to invest increased by 6% year over year in the first quarter but did not provide a total number.
In an earnings call on Tuesday, Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Alistair Borthwick said nearly two-thirds of Merrill clients now also have relationships with the bank. "With a continued increase in banking product usage from our investing clients, the diversification of the revenue in this business continues to grow," he said.
Merrill and the private bank reported that clients opened 27,000 bank accounts in the first quarter. Bank of America has long provided incentives to advisors who refer clients to its banking products.
Merrill and the private bank said 87% of their customers access services using digital means. Bank of America, for instance, introduced a digital assistant named Erica that wealth management clients used more than 3.5 million times in the first quarter.
Merrill, the private bank and other services like the Merrill Edge self-directed brokerage began using a digital-appointment system in the third quarter of last year. Clients have since used the system, estimated to reduce scheduling times from 20 minutes to two, to book roughly 40,000 meetings.
For all client balances, which include loans and deposits, the wealth management divisions logged a 3.8% year-over-year increase to $4.12 trillion. Merrill saw its balances rise 4% to $3.5 trillion, and the private bank saw its go up 6% to $670 billion.
