Bank of America's wealth management business had a strong third quarter that saw solid increases in revenue, profit, and client accounts.

The Global Wealth and Investment Management division, which includes Merrill Lynch and the Bank of America Private Bank, posted record revenue of $7.1 billion for the quarter, up 13% from the same period a year ago. The unit reported $4.5 billion in asset-management fees, an increase of 16% year over year.

Merrill and the private bank reported third-quarter net income of $1.5 billion, up 22% from a year ago.

The wealth division's financials were buoyed by rising market valuations, strong asset inflows in the quarter, and higher net interest income. Merrill and the private bank saw $20 billion of asset inflows during the quarter, which was down from $23.5 billion during the year-earlier quarter but up from $13.7 billion in the second quarter of 2026.

The wealth unit added about 5,000 net new accounts belonging to households with $500,000 or more in invested assets. Merrill ended the quarter with $4.2 trillion in client assets, up 9% from a year ago, including a record $1.9 trillion held in fee-based advisory accounts.

Merrill also saw double-digit percentage increases in relationships with new clients in the $1 million-plus and $10 million-plus ranges, according to Lindsay Hans, president and co-head of Merrill Wealth Management. She notes that many of Merrill's clients have relationships with advisors and maintain separate accounts with Merrill's self-directed platform, Merrill Edge. "This notion of hybrid relationships is increasingly important, and we have the platform to serve them," Hans told reporters on a conference call.

The results come amid a third-quarter earnings report for Bank of America that was tainted by a $1.2 billion fine regulators levied on the company relating to anti-money-laundering violations. Bank of America says that the penalty lowered its earnings per share for the quarter by 17 cents. Even without the fine, however, the country's second-largest lender would have posted EPS of just under the analyst consensus forecast of $1.10. As it turned out, Bank of America reported third-quarter earnings of 91 cents per share.

Bank of America shares were changing hands Wednesday afternoon at $51.14, down 5.2%.

Within the wealth business, executives describe efforts to deepen relationships with existing clients. A big part of that is lending. The wealth division ended the quarter with $283 billion in loan balances, driven in part by custom, mortgage, and securities-based lending. Merrill alone closed the quarter with $174 billion in loan balances, up 10% from a year ago and the 10th consecutive quarterly increase, according to Eric Schimpf, president and co-head of Merrill Wealth Management. He told reporters on the call that clients are increasingly interested in tapping their investment portfolios for cash while remaining invested.

"As clients' portfolios have appreciated, many are choosing to access liquidity through lending rather than selling positions and assets," he said. "In general, despite the raising-rate environment, we continue to see solid demand for lending solutions as clients continue to buy homes, invest in businesses, support major life events, and pursue the broader wealth transfer and legacy objectives."

Hans and Schimpf spoke positively of Merrill's efforts to recruit and retain experienced advisors and to train new ones, but they declined to confirm whether Merrill's advisor head count has increased on the year.

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