Strategy

Bank of America to Rebrand Private Banking under US Trust Banner

Chris Owen 18 June 2007

Bank of America to Rebrand Private Banking under US Trust Banner

Bank of America is expected to announce today that its private banking business serving high net worth customers will be renamed US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.

Bank of America is expected to announce today that its private banking business serving high net worth customers will be renamed US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. The move is designed to capitalise on the $3.3 billion purchase of Charles Schwab's private banking arm, US Trust, which nears completion early in July. It is the first time Bank of America has adopted the name of a business it has acquired. "Clients told us, 'Your brand gets lost in the market,'" said Brian Moynihan, president of BoA’s Global Wealth and Investment Management division, which includes the private bank. "We are saying to clients that you are in this large franchise, but are in this special place." BoA said the deal would enhance its credibility in the market and add scale. Its combined private banking operations will make it the largest private bank in the industry by assets, with about 5,000 advisors, nearly 134,000 clients and more than $270 billion under management. But the combined bank's wealth management arm, which includes private banking, still ranks behind Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, UBS and Morgan Stanley. And BoA’s private banking operation has long been overshadowed by the bank's predominantly middle-class retail image. "Banks that have a very strong retail heritage, like BoA, can often be stereotyped," Allan Starkie, a partner in consultant Knightsbridge Advisors told the New York Times, "and it is much more difficult for them to create the image of being an old-world, high net worth and ultra-high net worth advisor." By buying one, he added, "the sensible thing to do would be to keep it separate and not tamper with its brand, prestige and way of doing business."

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