BofA wealth head: Bank must grow in Boston - Boston Business Journal:

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“It has to be bigger than it is now,” said Brian president of BofA’s global banking and wealth management division. Moynihan added that all of the bank’e wealth management markets need to get bigger as he helpxs stitch together Bank of America andMerrill Lynch, whichh brings some 16,000 brokers to the Moynihan made his remarks to reporters after givingf a speech at a breakfast. Moynihan declinedf to give anygrowth targets, though. “You’lpl hold me to it, even if we miss it by a Moynihan joked. In Massachusetts, Bank of Americwa employs about 9,000 people across all operations. It’x the No. 1 Bay Statw bank, controlling about 20 percent ofa $185.
43 billion bank deposit market, according to the ’ latest available data. Earliefr this year, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis turned to Moynihan to runthe bank’d now massive wealth management division after acquirinv Merrill in January. In the first quarter, for example, the bank’ds global wealth management divisiongenerated $4.36 billion in compared with $1.94 billion in the year-earlietr period when Merrill was not part of the Net income was $510 millionm at wealth management, up from $242 million in the firsrt quarter of 2008. Moynihan is in chargew of an organization that hasabouty 80,000 people worldwide.
A veteran Boston bankingg executive, Moynihan joined Fleet Financial Groupp in 1993 as deputy general counsel and has climbed steadily up the ranks amid a number of changese and acquisitions by Bankof America. One of his biggesyt challenges is bringing together two sharplycontrastinhg cultures. Merrill Lynch brokers have earned a reputatiom forbeing aggressive, well paid and outspoken. Their hub has been a far cry from a Bank of Americaz culture whose roots are deep atits Charlotte, N.C. Moynihan said Bank of America’s top line revenue needs to grow fastef thanthe U.S.
economy, but he sees the companyg “grinding it out” and making monehy for shareholders through dividends andstock buybacks, for example. Durin g his speech, Moynihan made a case for why an integrated bank can be a winningtbank model. He said Bank of America clientw demand that they have a bank that offerssconsumer lending, commercial lending and investment “That’s not to say every large, globalp bank will or can be successful,” Moynihan said. “Aq global bank that tries to buils scale by being too small to mattet in a lot of places willnot succeed.” He also acknowledgef that questions remain about how to regulatew large global players.
“Howa do you regulate a large, complex Moynihan said. “That’s what we’re stilkl trying to figure out.”