Keith Bedford/Reuters
Merrill Lynch
- Bank of America plans to shift around 3,000 employees from across its businesses, including wealth management, into positions intended to field an onslaught of calls from customers.
- The plan, described internally on Thursday, highlights how the biggest US banks are scrambling to adapt during the coronavirus crisis that's devastating economies and hitting financial markets.
- The bank is shipping equipment like computers, docking stations, and telephones to remote employees from across divisions at the bank, including some 650 financial advisers-in-training, to create in-home setups.
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As part of its coronavirus crisis response, Bank of America is temporarily converting more than 3,000 employees from across the bank into positions intended to field an onslaught of calls from consumer and small business customers.
The bank is shipping equipment like computers, docking stations, and telephones to remote employees from across divisions at the bank, including some 650 financial advisers-in-training, to create in-home setups.
The plan was described to some employees on an internal conference call on Thursday, with no end date for the shift decided yet. Kirstin Hill, the chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch, and Jennifer MacPhee, an executive from the unit who oversees training for new advisers, were among those on the call.
The new, temporary roles come in addition to the 2,000 employees the firm hired in March to help support clients, a spokesperson said. The financial advisers who were in the middle of their training programs were told that they would eventually return to where they left off in the program before their roles were shifted around, though no timeline was provided.
Client associates will not be transferred into the temporary roles. The firm did not specify where the remainder would come from within the bank to fill the temporary roles.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
"These advisor trainees will remain as part of the training program, but their training activities will be put on hold," a spokesperson said. "Their role in supporting our company and clients from other lines of business is admirable."
Merrill Lynch's training program for advisers is a rigorous, 3-1/2-year-long program where senior leaders heavily monitor trainees as they get up to speed and aim to become full-fledged money managers.
Andy Sieg, the head of Merrill Lynch, was expected to address the employees selected for the temporary roles on a separate call scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The plan highlights how the biggest US banks are going to great lengths to adapt during the coronavirus crisis devastating economies and roiling financial markets. Bank of America has responded to at least one issue publicly stemming from their crisis response.
After California Governor Gavin Newsom last week singled out the bank for not offering an extended grace period for some borrowers affected by the ongoing economic crisis - and the backlash on Twitter that followed - the firm responded with a statement on Twitter.
"@JKCorden @yashar we saw your tweets and wanted you to know that we are deferring mortgage payments on a monthly basis until the crisis is over. It could be up to 90 days or longer. We'll defer for the duration," the bank said, tagging the journalist Yashar Ali and comedian James Corden.
Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said in an interview with CNBC last week that the firm would not lay off employees this year during the crisis spurred by COVID-19's spread. Morgan Stanley and Citi have made similar statements.
Other firms have responded to the coronavirus-related upheaval in recent weeks with their own contingency plans for traders, bankers, advisers, and other employees. Business Insider has reported that many large banks have replicated traders' setups in their homes, including access to Bloomberg terminals and direct access to the banks' systems.
For Bank of America and other firms, employees are in an unprecedented situation as they work remotely during a pandemic. The company said Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, among the largest US wealth managers, and Bank of America Private Bank are operating entirely remotely for the first time in the firm's history.
