Merrill Edge On Track With Recruiting Targets Hot

Bank of America told us in June that they wanted to hire 500 "financial solutions advisors" by the end of the year to sell products to branch and telephone customers.

Since then, they've filled 350 chairs across New England, the Mid-Atlantic, New Jersey, and now the Northwest.

Given the regional timing of these releases, we can expect additional announcements from the Southwest, Midwest, and the South in the next few months.

We can also get a better sense of BofA's strategy here based on what appears to be recruiting goals in each region.

The New Jersey release was huge -- 180 advisors -- but most of those people are going to staff Merrill Edge's already substantial telephone center there.

The rest will fan out into banks across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the New York City region.

The other recruiting releases touted 50 to 80 advisors per region. 

Meanwhile, the actual number of "mass affluent" accounts those advisors have been working with has been a little slow to grow. 

We might see that change as each region staffs up and comes into its own, but for now it seems like Bank of America is building it first and will then hope retail investors will come around.

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