Merrill (company)

This article is about the wealth management division of Bank of America. For the investment banking division of Bank of America, see BofA Securities. For the footwear company, see Merrell. For the Pokémon, see Marill.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated

Trade name	Merrill
Type	Division
Industry	Financial services
Founded	January 6, 1914 (1914-01-06)
Founders	Charles E. Merrill Edmund C. Lynch
Headquarters	250 Vesey Street, New York City, New York , U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Services	Investment management
Revenue	US$13.8 billion (2012)
Operating income	−2,300,000,000 United States dollar (2012)
Net income	290,000,000 United States dollar (2012)
Total assets	603,000,000,000 United States dollar (2012)
Number of employees	15,100 (Financial Advisors as of 2010)
Parent	Bank of America (2009–present)
Divisions	Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Merrill Private Wealth Management Merrill Guided Investing Merrill Edge
Website	www.merrill.com

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American multinational investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment banking arm, both firms engage in prime brokerage and broker-dealer activities. The firm is headquartered in New York City, and once occupied the entire 34 stories of 250 Vesey Street, part of the Brookfield Place complex in Manhattan. Merrill employs over 14,000 financial advisors and manages $2.8 trillion in client assets ($3.4 trillion for Global Wealth and Investment Management). The company also operates Merrill Edge, an electronic trading platform that had $500 billion in assets from 4 million clients as of January 2025.

After suffering a wholesale funding and liquidity crisis during the 2008 financial crisis, in September 2008, on the same weekend as the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Merrill, then led by John Thain, agreed to be acquired by Bank of America. The acquisition was completed in January 2009. The company was merged into Bank of America Corporation in October 2018, with certain Bank of America subsidiaries continuing to carry the Merrill Lynch name, including the broker-dealer Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith. In 2019, Bank of America rebranded the unit to "Merrill".

Merrill Lynch rose to prominence on the strength of its network of financial advisors, sometimes referred to as the "thundering herd", that allowed it to place securities it underwrote directly. In contrast, many established Wall Street firms, such as Morgan Stanley, relied on groups of independent brokers for placement of the securities they underwrote. It was once known as the "Catholic" firm of Wall Street and most of its executives were Irish Catholics.