eFinancialCareers

Merrill Lynch plans to recruit for its Asian wealth management division, despite an overall decline in assets under management across the private banking industry and the ongoing internal challenge of integrating with parent company Bank of America.

The firm is finalising a three-to-five-year plan to grow its business in the region. Dan Sontag, head of Merrill's global wealth management business, is keen to see more hiring in Singapore and across Asia, but he is not providing target numbers.

"I'm always looking for talented people in the marketplace. We've got a long history in Asia…and we want to capture more fully the opportunities," Sontag tells eFinancialCareers.

Merrill employs 1,700 people in wealth management in Asia, 450 of them in Singapore, including 150 front-office financial advisors. Following its takeover by Bank of America, the combined firm is generating "bigger economies of scale", which Sontag says give it an edge over smaller private banks.

"There's always going to be niche players in the marketplace, who're going to find places to serve clients, but I'm of the belief that more and more clients are looking for a single place to serve all their needs," he explains.

But it’s not just the boutiques that will give Merrill a run for its money in the battle to hire senior private bankers, firms like Barclays, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered are also searching for these professionals.

“Very experienced private bankers, with assets under management of over US$300m, are certainly in high demand at the moment from a number of banks,” says Richie Holliday, managing director of Morgan McKinley’s Hong Kong office.

Potential candidates might be starting to take more notice of Merrill Lynch. Antony Hung, the bank’s head of wealth management for Asia Pacific, explains: "The kind of CVs we're getting are those of high quality people who want come to work at our firm. This is a very encouraging sign and will help us grow in this region as well," he adds.

Morale among existing Merrill staff isn’t exactly perky, according to one headhunter who asked not to be named. And it remains to be seen how successful the bank will be in attracting new talent after the damaged done to its brand by the financial crisis.

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