Merrill Edge Goalpost Moves Again: 160 More Reps To Serve 8 Million Clients? Hot

Bank of America says it is hiring 160 customer service reps for Southern California and Arizona.

These people are tasked to help upper-middle-class banking customers buy mutual funds and other investment products.

Interestingly, Bank of America says it has 8 million accounts that qualify for the service and so can already be considered "inherited" Merrill Edge customers.

That's a lot of people with $50,000 to $250,000 to invest. 

In theory, even if Merrill Edge never prospected a single client outside the bank's customers, it could capture $400 billion or more just from those customers.

But in practice, the economics are still mysterious. Can a few thousand telephone service reps and bank-stationed personnel serve 8 million people who want a bit of the "Merrill Lynch" experience?

How much of that $400 billion can they capture? 

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