Bank of America’s wealth management unit reported solid results for the first quarter of 2026, posting healthy increases in revenue and client balances.
Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management unit, which includes Merrill Lynch and the BofA Private Bank, reported $6.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter, a 12% annual increase. Net income, meanwhile, surged 32% year over year to $1.3 billion.
In the same period, the wealth division collected $4.2 billion in asset management fees, a 15% increase from the previous year,
Merrill Wealth Management ended the quarter with $3.8 trillion in client balances, a 9% annual increase. The overall Global Wealth and Investment Management unit closed out the period with $4.6 trillion in client balances, an annual increase of 10%, which Bank of America attributed to rising market valuations and strong asset inflows.
Bank of America says that its investment advisory program saw $20.4 billion of asset inflows in the first quarter, and $78 billion over the past year. First-quarter asset flows were off slightly from the first period in 2025, when Merrill and the Private Bank added $24 billion in assets under management.
The wealth management results came amid a strong overall quarter for Bank of America, which topped analysts’ expectations with earnings per share of $1.11, ahead of the consensus forecast of $1.01. The nation’s second-largest bank reported net income of $8.6 billion, a 17% increase over the same period last year. Revenue was up 7% to $30.3 billion, handily beating the forecast of $27.76 billion.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan described the U.S. economy as “resilient,” citing “healthy client activity, including solid consumer spending and stable asset quality.”
Bank of America shares were trading at $54.08, up 1.4%, at about 12:20 p.m. ET Wednesday. The benchmark S&P 500 index was up 0.5%
The bank has been talking up its investments in technology, including artificial intelligence, as tools that will enable advisors to better serve their clients. Bank of America reported that the vast majority of Merrill and Private Bank clients—88%—are “digitally engaged,” while its AI tools are presenting advisors with insights such as Social Security eligibility and other changing circumstances in clients’ lives.
In the first quarter, Merrill Lynch and the Private Bank launched an AI-powered meeting tool that BofA said could save advisors four hours per meeting by helping with preparation and generating a summary and a follow-up plan.
Bank of America’s wealth division is also signing up more affluent clients, adding around 4,000 new relationships with $500,000 or more in investible assets, while net new households with $10 million or more were up 23% from the first quarter of 2025.
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