Merrill Wealth Management weathers stormy first quarter

Bank of America's wealth management business, which includes Merrill Lynch, weathered a difficult first quarter with a 3% year-over-year decline in revenue, to $5.3 billion, as a result of the impact of lower equity and fixed-income market valuations on asset management fees, which was partially offset by higher net interest income, the company reported Tuesday morning.

The bank's investment and brokerage services, including Merrill Lynch, posted solid results that were in line with Wall Street's expectations but better than estimates by UBS, UBS analyst Erika Najarian noted in a report Tuesday morning.

The past 3½ months have been the most chaotic for Wall Street since the 2008 credit crisis. Tuesday's earnings report reflected a volatile quarter that saw the collapse of three regional banks. Bank of America was one of 11 banks that helped shore up First Republic Bank in the wake of consumer panic following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank by making a $5 billion uninsured deposit into First Republic to help provide liquidity.

It was also a choppy period internally for Merrill Wealth Management. Andy Sieg, who was the head of Merrill Wealth Management until the end of March, bolted to return to Citigroup, where he worked before being hired by Merrill Lynch in 2009.

Sieg was replaced by Lindsay Hans and Eric Schimpf, who were appointed presidents and co-heads of Merrill Wealth Management. They report to Bank of America chair and CEO Brian Moynihan.

"Throughout the country, Merrill advisors are meeting the evolving needs of clients during what continues to be a choppy market environment, while also attracting new clients across generations and at all levels of wealth," Schimpf said in a statement.

Bank of America reported 14,500 net new global wealth and investment management clients in the first quarter, an indication its financial advisors were continuing to hustle for new clients. Global wealth and investment management also reported opening 35,000 bank accounts, an 18% increase year-over-year.

The number of financial advisors in the wealth management business tailed off slightly during the quarter. Bank of America reported 19,243 total wealth advisors at end of March of 19,243, or 30 less than the end of last year. But compared to the same time last year, the bank's financial advisor head count increased by 672, or 3.6%. One of Sieg's big efforts over the past couple of years was to hire and train more financial advisors.