“Building your women clientele takes longer, but they are more loyal.”

This is how Sallie Krawcheck, president of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s global wealth and investment management unit, views the differences between client genders.

Her remarks were made as part of the firm’s wealth management panel on women and retirement. As more women are entering the professional population, (58% of college graduates and 54% of US professional and managerial jobs)* their desire and need to build wealth and retirement savings requires a different approach from their male counterparts.

As a result, the firm is providing guidance to their advisors on how to work with women and encouraging them to be more proactive in the amount of time they spend pursuing prospective women clients.

Based on the premise that women live longer, earn less and tend to be more conservative investors, their investment plans are key as they tend to stick with the plans they create with their advisor, which makes them good clients…and, they tend to refer about three to one over men, according to David Bach, former financial advisor and author of “Smart Women Finish Rich.”

*Read the article…

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No one would debate the fact that Merrill Lynch went thru some tough times during the economic crisis. But Merrill’s Wealth Management took a survey of their clients over this past year and found that they continue to value their relationship with their financial advisors.

As a result, the unit’s new brand platform revolves around its advisors, according to Joan Khoury, head of marketing for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. The brand platform, dubbed the “Power of the Right Advisor,” builds upon Merrill’s source of strength, says Khoury. Debuting last week, it will be rolled out over the course of the year.

Some innovative things to watch for: Financial Planning Webcasts, major league baseball sponsorships, online financial media and search engines, including its own YouTube channel. Oh, and look for “Power of the Right Advisor” to appear just above CNBC’s stock ticker.

For more on the “new look” for Merrill, see Steve Garmhausen’s April 14th feature article for OnWallStreet, “With Loyal Clients in Tow, Merrill Unveils New Strategy.”

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There have not been very many advisors looking to grow their business in the independent channel recently. Many advisors in the independent world are focused on succession planning and coming up short with whom they choose to run their business when they retire.

According to Alois Parker from Aite Group (it looks at the biggest challenges for brokers wanting to break away: technology, compliance and administration),

“The hardest part is to leave a captive environment where a lot is taken care of for the advisor and then the advisor has to learn to stay compliant, which is difficult because the way to do so has been redefined over the last five years and more regulations are coming down the pike.”

Fortunately for the independent channels, there are new technology platforms that are becoming available to help advisors start growing their business. Also, even with the challenges independent advisors face, they still wouldn’t leave. According to Independent Channel Needs Newcomers, Ruthie Ackerman states,

“…87% of independents recommend going independent, which means that as challenging as the process is, the benefits outweigh the difficulties.”

The reason newer advisor don’t start out in the independent channel is because it is much easier to build a book with a wirehouse first, then go independent. Ruthie Ackerman states,

“…wirehouse brokers that breakaway are more successful than their peers who started out at independent firms. Those from wirehouses are more likely to retain their clients when going independent, with 50% retaining three-quarters of their assets…”

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No surprise really, and as most are agreeing, a safe choice.

With Moynihan at the helm of Bank of America, I don’t think we’ll see any radical changes in the near future. I think he will try to steer his ship as calmly as possible thru the murky months ahead.

He has openly stated his immediate focus will be on the economic recovery and winning back investor trust. Keeping his team intact will be a priority too, tho there will probably be some musical chairs being played out.

He wanted the job, and now he’s got it, so will he be a rainmaker? Remains to be seen!

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We all watched with interest as the “Thanksgiving Deadline” set by Bank of America for naming the new CEO to replace Ken Lewis came and, yes “went” with no announcement.

Lots of “scuttlebutt” out there regarding lack of outside candidates (who would want to apply with all the federal pay restrictions placed on BofA? You know, the government’s “pay czar”, Ken Feinberg has the authority to approve or veto compensation for senior executives at BofA.)

So NOW, it has been announced that the government has given the bank permission to repay the $45 billion taxpayer aid it received during the financial meltdown. You bet they will do it ASAP, thus removing the government pay restrictions, and hopefully drawing more outside candidate interest.

But WAIT, what about those two internal candidates? Will they stay or will they go if an outsider is picked? And how many other top execs now reporting directly to Lewis would leave regardless of an outsider OR insider named? Or maybe, as some suggest, the external search is just a façade and they’ve already decided to hire “in house”?

Recruiters watching with interest as this story unfolds.

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Yes, you have probably guessed right. Of those advisors who did move in the past 12 months, Discovery Database reported that 40% were from wirehouses, and in spite of all the speculation about them looking to go independent, 52% of those advisors turned around and went to another wirehouse!

We recruiters are still seeing UBS advisors continuing to walk out the door, (a few of whom have gone over to Raymond James since October), but perhaps UBS’s new CEO, Robert McCann, (prior Merrill, just released from his non-compete agreement) can halt the runaways through his aggressive growth agenda, which does NOT include putting the UBS wealth management division on the block.

Who knows, maybe he’ll go after more Merrill advisors?!

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With interest I read the report from the research firm, Discovery Database, that only 361 wirehouse finance advisors changed firms in October, down from 380 in September, and down from 990 in July.

Yeah, that IS quite a drop. (But then…hey, you need to look at the bigger picture over the past 12 months and consider (dare I say it) the “meltdown.” Discovery looked at a full year of data and found that 24,441 advisors changed firms between November 2008 and October, 2009.

That’s an average of 2,036 a month!

As financial service recruiters, I can tell you Willis Consulting has had a VERY busy year, and it’s not over yet!

More on these movement stats to come.

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Just an FYI and interesting tidbit…

Well, you knew more regulations were on the table, but the new measures the SEC recently passed to combat more Ponzi schemes like the Madoff one leaves doubt by some securities attorneys as to how effective they really would be. (Registeredrep.com, May 15, by Kristen French)

The idea of surprise exams and reviews by third party accountants independent of the advisor would affect SEC registered investment advisors who maintain discretionary authority over their clients’ funds.

The thoughts are that this would not only be expensive and cumbersome, but would really not uncover fraud more effectively. And had the SEC done their job in the first place, they would have uncovered the scheme long before people lost their life savings…you know, sometimes the regulators need regulating.

Your thoughts? Oh well, back to financial recruiting.

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