Merrill Edge

Merrill Edge

Type	Division
Industry	Financial services
Founded	June 21, 2010
Area served	United States
Key people	Aron Levine
Products	Discount brokerage
Number of employees	2,500
Parent	Bank of America
Website	https://www.merrilledge.com/

Merrill Edge is an online discount brokerage service provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Launched on June 21, 2010, Merrill Edge is a part of Bank of America's retail banking division.

Merrill Edge was created to merge Bank of America Online Investing (Quick & Reilly) and Merrill Lynch's research, investment tools, and call center counsel. When it was established, Merrill Edge had 500,000 Bank of America customers. The firm focuses on investors with between $100,000 and $250,000 in investable assets. In 2015, the service held $118 billion from two million customers and employed 2,500 advisers working in bank branches and call centers.

Launched on June 21, 2010, Merrill Edge is a "a no-frills brokerage unit" of parent company Bank of America's retail banking division. Created after Merrill Lynch became a subsidiary of Bank of America in 2008, it contains the Merrill Lynch name and its employees are included in Merrill Lynch's number of employees. It merged Bank of America Online Investing (Quick & Reilly) and Merrill Lynch's research, investment tools, and call center counsel. At its inception, Merrill Edge had 500,000 customers from Bank of America's current clients. Bank of America launched the product to compete with Charles Schwab Corporation and Fidelity Investments for the numerous fledgling investors unprepared for comprehensive advice. Bank of America aimed to build brand loyalty among these younger investors who generally have strong technological skills and appreciate a higher degree of openness and personal oversight of their accounts. It is intended for well-educated clients who want to invest between $100,000 and $250,000. Other Merrill Edge competitors are cheap automated Internet advising services like Wealthfront or Personal Capital.