Bank of America plans to hire some 1,000 additional bankers, brokers and client managers by the end of 2008 to build out its Premier Banking and Investments Division, which serves clients with between $100,000 and $3 million in investible assets.

"We will hire people from competitors and we will hire from other parts of the company, we do it every day and we know how to get it done," Brian Moynihan, president of Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management unit, told the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Boston.

The new staff will serve as client managers, financial advisors and in other client facing capacities and will be based throughout the US. Currently the division, which oversees $195.8 billion in total client assets, employs 2,500 client managers and 2,000 financial advisors.

The Charlotte-based bank is also boosting staff at its US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management unit which caters to people with more than $3 million to invest and manages $350.9 billion in client assets. Bank of America acquired US Trust from discount brokerage Charles Schwab in July.