By Joseph A Giannone
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp on Wednesday named John Thiel as head of Merrill Lynch U.S. wealth management, replacing Lyle LaMothe as leader of the second-largest U.S. brokerage force.
Thiel, 50, has for several years run Merrill's private banking and investment group, a business that caters to families with $10 million or more to invest.
He will continue to run that business along with the wealth management unit, which puts him in charge of Merrill's 'Thundering Herd' of 15,695 brokers. They helped generate $3.54 billion of revenue for the bank during the first quarter.
By comparison, archrivals Morgan Stanley Smith Barney generated $3.44 billion with a broker force numbering 17,800 advisers at the end of March.
Thiel's appointment is effective May 1, according to an internal memo from Bank of America wealth management division president Sallie Krawcheck.
'John is one of our most accomplished senior managers and I know he will build on his successes to impact our wealth management business more broadly,' she wrote.
A Merrill Lynch spokeswoman confirmed the memo but declined further comment.
Krawcheck said Thiel was chosen after an 'extensive' internal and external search.
Thiel began his career as a KPMG Peat Marwick accountant.
After joining Merrill in 1989 as a Tampa, Florida, broker, he rose through the ranks and by 1995 became part of Merrill's advisory division leadership team. He also served as regional director near Chicago and joined Merrill's high net worth private banking business in 2000, a unit that now manages $160 billion in client assets.
Bill Willis, a former Merrill Lynch manager turned industry recruiter, said he thinks Merrill advisers will welcome the appointment.
'He's a smart guy and he's a Merrill guy. He's really risen through the ranks,' Willis said.
Thiel prevailed in a horse race to succeed LaMothe, a soft-spoken Californian who in March announced his intention to retire on May 1 after 24 years at the firm.
By putting Thiel in charge of both the high-net-worth and wealth management businesses, Merrill Lynch may be seeking to integrate the units, said Alois Pirker, research director at Boston-based consultants Aite Group.
'They are trying to take the whole (wealth management) business upmarket,' he said. 'It makes sense to bring those two businesses together.'
U.S. Trust, Bank of America's private bank unit which also caters to wealthy clients, would be harder to integrate because the U.S. Trust bankers are paid a salary and bonus. Merrill Lynch brokers, on the other hand, receive a percentage of the revenue they generate, said Pirker.
'U.S. Trust is such a different business model,' he said. 'Bringing those two together would be very tough.'
(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone; Additional reporting by Helen Kearney, editing by Gunna Dickson, Bernard Orr) Keywords: MERRILLLYNCH/MANAGEMENT (joseph.giannone@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +1 646 223 6184; Reuters Messaging: joseph.giannone.reuters.com@reuters.net; www.twitter.com/reutersjoe ) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp on Wednesday named John Thiel as head of Merrill Lynch U.S. wealth management, replacing Lyle LaMothe as leader of the second-largest U.S. brokerage force.
Thiel, 50, has for several years run Merrill's private banking and investment group, a business that caters to families with $10 million or more to invest.
He will continue to run that business along with the wealth management unit, which puts him in charge of Merrill's 'Thundering Herd' of 15,695 brokers. They helped generate $3.54 billion of revenue for the bank during the first quarter.
By comparison, archrivals Morgan Stanley Smith Barney generated $3.44 billion with a broker force numbering 17,800 advisers at the end of March.
Thiel's appointment is effective May 1, according to an internal memo from Bank of America wealth management division president Sallie Krawcheck.
'John is one of our most accomplished senior managers and I know he will build on his successes to impact our wealth management business more broadly,' she wrote.
A Merrill Lynch spokeswoman confirmed the memo but declined further comment.
Krawcheck said Thiel was chosen after an 'extensive' internal and external search.
Thiel began his career as a KPMG Peat Marwick accountant.
After joining Merrill in 1989 as a Tampa, Florida, broker, he rose through the ranks and by 1995 became part of Merrill's advisory division leadership team. He also served as regional director near Chicago and joined Merrill's high net worth private banking business in 2000, a unit that now manages $160 billion in client assets.
Bill Willis, a former Merrill Lynch manager turned industry recruiter, said he thinks Merrill advisers will welcome the appointment.
'He's a smart guy and he's a Merrill guy. He's really risen through the ranks,' Willis said.
Thiel prevailed in a horse race to succeed LaMothe, a soft-spoken Californian who in March announced his intention to retire on May 1 after 24 years at the firm.
By putting Thiel in charge of both the high-net-worth and wealth management businesses, Merrill Lynch may be seeking to integrate the units, said Alois Pirker, research director at Boston-based consultants Aite Group.
'They are trying to take the whole (wealth management) business upmarket,' he said. 'It makes sense to bring those two businesses together.'
U.S. Trust, Bank of America's private bank unit which also caters to wealthy clients, would be harder to integrate because the U.S. Trust bankers are paid a salary and bonus. Merrill Lynch brokers, on the other hand, receive a percentage of the revenue they generate, said Pirker.
'U.S. Trust is such a different business model,' he said. 'Bringing those two together would be very tough.'
(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone; Additional reporting by Helen Kearney, editing by Gunna Dickson, Bernard Orr) Keywords: MERRILLLYNCH/MANAGEMENT (joseph.giannone@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +1 646 223 6184; Reuters Messaging: joseph.giannone.reuters.com@reuters.net; www.twitter.com/reutersjoe ) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.