Merrill Lynch goes after bank deposits; will reimburse customers for ATM use

NEW YORK -- Brokerage giant Merrill Lynch on Jan. 8 introduced a "Beyond Banking" service which offers FDIC-insured accounts with traditional banking features such as direct deposit, Visa debit cards with frequent flyer miles, checks and online bill payment.

"We see no reason for our clients to maintain a traditional banking account," said James Gorman, president of Merrill's global private client group, acknowledging that the brokerage is going after the assets its clients hold in outside bank accounts. "We have $140 billion of our clients' money sitting in bank accounts to date and we obviously prefer that they have it at Merrill Lynch."

According to a Newsdayreport, most of the financial services are already available under Merrill's Cash Management Account, which it introduced in 1978. The main difference is clients' Beyond Banking assets will be in a separate account rather than part of their investment assets.

 

Merrill plans to reimburse customers up to $200 in ATM fees each year. Beyond Banking customers also won't pay fees for bill payments, stop payments and checkbook reorders.

Beyond Banking clients will, however, have to establish a CMA account and pay its $100 annual fee. Also, those with less than a total of $100,000 in all of their Merrill accounts will be charged $15 a month.

The firm has long offered alternative services, such as mortgages and small business financing. However, Merrill found that 75 percent of the customers it surveyed didn't know about it or worried about blurring their household and investment accounts.

 

So the nation's largest brokerage is launching an advertising compaign touting the firm as a one-stop financial center and creating separate bank and investment account numbers to help boost interest. The slogan that will be used to promote Beyond Banking is: "Total Merrill. We see your financial life in total."