The global wealth and investment management arm of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which now ranks as the world’s largest wealth manager, reported net income of $497 million for the three months till the end of March 2010, up from $479 million a year ago.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Corporation, Merrill's parent, reported net income for the first quarter of $3.2 billion, up from a net loss of $194 million in the fourth quarter, but down from net income $4.2 billion from the first quarter of 2009.

The global wealth and investment management unit comprises Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management; US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management; and Columbia Management, among other businesses.

It reported net income of $497 million on revenues of $4.4 billion for the first quarter, up from revenues of $4.3 billion a year ago. This increase in revenues was driven by clients' preference for higher-margin products and less use of low-margin cash products.

Revenues at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management declined by $202 million year-over-year to $3.1 billion; this was mainly due to the impact of the migration of certain deposits and loan balances to the firm’s deposits, home loans and insurance businesses, as well as lower residual net interest income, according to the firm.

At US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, revenues were flat at $688 million, while they increased by $127 million to $277 million at Columbia Management. BoA has recently sold Columbia’s asset management business to rival US money manager Ameriprise.

Within the “all other” category of BoA/Merrill’s wealth operations – a section covering an assortment of operations not included in its three main sections – a net loss of $810 million was reported, due to lower net revenue and increases in provision for credit losses and noninterest expense, the bank said.

Assets under management across the global wealth and investment management arm were $750.7 billion at 31 March 2010, up from $697.3 billion at the end of December last year.