Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has recently made a push into the competitive realm of managing retirement assets and is now starting to see success from the move.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said that the company is winning an increasing amount of 401(k) plan business from its large corporate clients in a major initiative at Citigroup’s Financial Services Conference.
Moynihan said that the bank’s institutional retirement unit has won the rights two administer two retirement plan with more than $1 billion in assets this year.
The new growth reflects a larger push within Bank of America’s global wealth and investment management unit to acquire more individual and corporate clients’ retirement plans.
On February 19th, Andy Sieg, head of Bank of America’s retirement and philanthropy businesses, said he wanted to expand the business “to be multiples of what it is today.”
Moynihan said that the company’s wealth division, along with investment banking, would be a key driver of earnings growth for the largest U.S. bank in terms of assets, as Bank of America and Merrill Lynch continue their integration.
The bank’s Merrill Lynch wealth management has received more than 225,000 referrals from its consumer bank operations. Financial services advisers have provided 6,500 referrals to the bank’s commercial banking operations, which primarily serves businesses. Advisers have received 2,200 new client referrals from the commercial bank, according to Moynihan.
