Merrill Lynch

Published WirehouseHUB stories filed under Merrill Lynch.

• Merrill's 2027 Advisor Pay Plan Keeps the Grid Flat, Raises the Growth Award Bar and Adds a Lending Bonus

  Merrill's 2027 advisor compensation plan keeps the core grid unchanged and moves the incentives into growth, banking and lending awards.

• BofA Takes $1.2B Money-Laundering Penalty, and Merrill's Own SAR Record Sits Close Behind

  Federal regulators hit Bank of America with more than $1.21 billion in anti-money-laundering and sanctions penalties on Oct. 13, and the findings point at the same monitoring system Merrill Lynch relies on for its own suspicious activity reporting.

• Merrill's Singer Maxey Team Joins Raymond James in Bend, Oregon

  Singer Maxey Wealth Management left Merrill for Raymond James in Bend with about $4.7 million in reported annual production, clearing WirehouseHUB's automatic coverage bar for wirehouse moves. Singer Maxey, left Merrill, joined Raymond James, Bend, $450M

• Merrill Adds About $770M in Teams From Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo

  Merrill has pulled in two advisory groups that together report roughly $770 million in client assets, according to InvestmentNews, splitting the haul between a New York Park Avenue market hire out of Morgan Stanley and a Boca Raton addition from Wells Fargo Advisors. left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill, $770M

• Merrill Agrees to Pay $39 Million to Settle Merrill Edge Retirement Cash-Sweep Class Action

  The proposed deal, which still needs a federal judge's approval, would end a 2019 suit claiming Merrill Edge retirement savers earned a fraction of a percent on swept cash while other brokerages paid about 2%.

• Merrill Lands $1.2B Aliaskari Group From Morgan Stanley in McLean

  Merrill pulled a named PWM team back from Morgan Stanley — Aliaskari left Merrill in 2012 and just returned with $1.2B and two partners, a concrete wire-to-wire win under Moynihan’s more-advisors mandate. Aliaskari Group, left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill, McLean, $1.2B

• Merrill Raids Morgan Stanley's $13B Book While Morgan Stanley Reframes Headcount Losses as an Asset Story

  If you're a high-AUM producer at either firm, your phone is about to ring. Both wirehouses are competing fiercely for experienced teams—they're just describing the battlefield differently. Know your market value before someone else defines it for you.

• BofA CEO Moynihan Tells Merrill It Needs More Advisors to Unlock Growth — Here's What That Means for Recruiting

  Merrill Lynch is actively competing for experienced lateral hires again — advisors at rival wirehouses are now a primary recruitment target, and deal structures are likely to improve as the firm races to fill geographic gaps. It Needs More Advisors, left Morgan Stanley

• John Vazquez & Manuel Monasterio Bring $1.2B, $4.7M in Production from UBS to Merrill Lynch in Santa Fe

  If you're a high-producing UBS team watching your colleagues defect, Merrill's recruiting machine is clearly writing checks big enough to move $1.2 billion books out of New Mexico. Know your number. Vazquez / Monasterio team, left UBS, joined Merrill, $1.2B

• Merrill Pulls Morgan Stanley Advisors Into Chicago North & Nashville While LPL Raids Cetera Across Two States

  If you're at Morgan Stanley in Chicago or Nashville, expect a Merrill recruiter call soon—and if you're at a mid-size IBD like Cetera, LPL's checkbook is clearly open. The battleground is every major metro market, and transition packages are only getting richer. left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill

• Federal Judge Blocks Merrill Lynch From Dragging Dynasty Financial Into FINRA Arbitration Over OpenArc Breakaway

  Wirehouses can no longer assume FINRA arbitration clauses in advisor contracts automatically bind third-party RIA support platforms like Dynasty. This ruling tilts the playing field toward breakaway teams and their platform partners, making the independent channel marginally safer to land in.

• Merrill Lands Four Teams From Colorado to Louisiana — But May Data Reveals a Firm Running to Stand Still

  Merrill's recruiting machine is active, but net growth remains elusive. For advisors weighing a move, the firm's churn data signals both opportunity and instability — the competition for your book is fierce on both sides of Merrill's revolving door.

• Merrill Lynch Quietly Removes Fee Ceiling for Trainee Advisors, Unlocking Top-Tier Rate Access From Day One

  If you're a Merrill trainee or managing one, the implicit discount on your advisory pricing just disappeared — your revenue-per-client ceiling is now the same as a 20-year veteran's on day one.

• Merrill Poaches Morgan Stanley's Hartford Branch Manager Jazz Skair to Lead Connecticut Market

  Merrill is targeting experienced wirehouse branch managers—not just producing advisors—to anchor regional recruiting pipelines. If you're a market leader at a competing firm, expect your phone to ring. left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill

• Baird Snags $508M RBC Team While Merrill Lynch Pulls $560M in New Talent—Nearly $1.1B Shifts in One Recruiting Cycle

  Nearly $1.1 billion in client assets just changed hands between four major firms in a single recruiting cycle—if your book is in a Midwest market, expect your phone to ring from a competitor's recruiter soon. left RBC, joined Baird, $508M

• Merrill Fined $225K After Banking Lexicon Buried 1,600+ Brokerage Complaints for Six Years

  If your firm's compliance tech was built for one business line and repurposed for another without rigorous testing, you are carrying regulatory risk that won't surface until FINRA does the digging for you.

• Merrill Lynch Parts Ways With Paul Morris After DOJ Files Expose Epstein Ties Spanning JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank

  If your firm has any client relationships flagged in federal document releases, assume compliance and PR pressure will accelerate personnel decisions faster than internal reviews can conclude — Morris's exit is a preview, not an outlier.

• Merrill Lynch Recruiting Loan Commitments Jump 47% as Wirehouses Escalate Talent War

  Merrill Lynch increased its upfront recruiting loan commitments by nearly 47% in the fourth quarter of 2025 as the firm ramped up its effort to attract experienced advisors from rivals. Wells Fargo's loan total rose 13% over the same period.

• BofA Co-President Pledges 'More Aggressive' Merrill Lynch Recruiting in 2026

  Bank of America's co-president Alastair Borthwick says the firm is pivoting from retention-first to active recruiting as Merrill Lynch looks to rebuild headcount after years of advisor attrition. left Bank of America

• Merrill Lynch Launches Aggressive Counter-Recruiting Campaign With Enhanced Retention Packages

  The Bank of America unit is fighting to stem advisor attrition with improved economics and new platform features.

• Janney Montgomery Scott Poaches $1 Billion Merrill Lynch Team From Delaware

  Janney recruited a $1B Merrill Lynch team from Dover, Delaware — the second major raid on the same office in 18 months. left Merrill, joined Janney, $1B

• Merrill Lynch Lands $805 Million UBS Team in Rhode Island as Recruiting Push Gains Steam

  Merrill Lynch's recruitment of an $805 million UBS team signals the firm's renewed competitive edge in wirehouse recruiting under Brian Moynihan's leadership. left UBS, joined Merrill, Rhode Island, $805M

• Merrill Lynch Is Recruiting Again—And Brian Moynihan Wants 'The Most Aggressive Targets'

  After largely sitting out the recruiting wars since 2017, Merrill Lynch is back in the game with aggressive hiring targets and a goal of pushing its wealth unit's profit margin from 25% to 30%. left Morgan Stanley

• Merrill Lynch Doubles Small Household Threshold to $500K in 2026 Compensation Overhaul

  Merrill Lynch doubled its small household threshold to $500K in its 2026 comp plan, squeezing advisors with mid-tier client bases.