Merrill Lynch is keen to acquire wealth managers to build its high net worth business, according to James Gorman, who has recently been appo...

Merrill Lynch is keen to acquire wealth managers to build its high net worth business, according to James Gorman, who has recently been appointed by the US firm as head of corporate acquisitions and strategy. "We're looking at a variety of ways to grow our company and obviously we have the capital to do that," Mr Gorman told reporters in New York at a press conference on the World Wealth Report—an annual survey by Merrill Lynch and CapGemini. Mr Gorman, who until the beginning of June was head of Merrill’s global private client business, said the second largest wealth manager in the world sees itself as a "natural consolidator" in the high net worth business. Mr Gorman said at the conference that Merrill has more than 14,000 financial advisers, each generating on average $720,000 in annual revenue. He said that represents a "scale" that few other companies in the high net worth business have.