Bank of America Corp.'s global wealth and investment management division plans to add to its sales staff this year.
The division's private wealth management group, which caters to individuals with more than $3 million of assets, says it expects to increase its sales staff 1.3%, to 2,077. The premier banking and investments group, which targets individuals with $100,000 to $3 million, will expand its sales force 6.9%, to 5,940.
Pat Phillip, the president of the premier banking and investments group, said he hopes to develop the sales force in high-growth areas, including Houston, Dallas, and Orange County, Calif.
During B of A's investor day on Tuesday, Mr. Phillips said the Charlotte company is shifting away from hiring advisers with large books of business because "that consistently fails." Instead, he said, it is interested in hiring associates who can learn its model and grow from there.
"We want to build institutional loyalty for both our clients and our associates," he said.
Brian Moynihan, the division's president, said during the conference, "Our fastest path to growth is to leverage the Bank of America franchise and its vast customer base."
The global wealth and investment management division increased its assets under management 12.6% last year, to $542.9 billion at yearend. Despite this size, Mr. Moynihan acknowledged that there is a lack of awareness in major markets that B of A offers private banking and wealth management.
"Frankly, some of our customers didn't know we were in this business," he said.
Mr. Moynihan also said he hopes buying U.S. Trust Corp. would increase awareness. The deal for U.S. Trust, announced in November and expected to close this month, would expand sales capabilities at B of A's private bank, broaden its talent pool, expand its products, increase its clients, and, above all else, increase awareness.
"This deal gives us some impressive scale," he said. "If you step back and look at the transaction, our private bank was profitable and large, but this merger really gives it a shot in the arm for growth."
Buying U.S. Trust would make Bank of America's private wealth management group a better competitor in the market, Mr. Moynihan said. Excluding the U.S. Trust deal, last year the group increased its assets under management 4.8%, to $171.9 billion.
After the acquisition, the private wealth management group, which includes B of A's private bank and its family wealth advisory group, would have 118,000 client relationships with $270 billion of assets under management. It would have offices in 32 states would be the nation's top private bank and the fifth-largest wealth manager.
Peter K. Scaturro, the chief executive officer at U.S. Trust, would run the private wealth management group.
