Unit Of Largest US Wealth Manager To Allow Client-To-Advisor Text Messaging

Josh O'Neill

12 January 2018

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management’s advisors will soon be able to communicate with clients via text messaging without risking violating compliance policies, the firm announced yesterday.

The firm said it would add new client-to-advisor texting capabilities to its suite of “enhanced” digital features, designed to make it easier for clients to stay in touch with their advisors.

“Texting is just our latest investment in building our state-of-the-art digital capabilities – so that we can serve our clients when, where and how they want,” said Andy Sieg, head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. “It’s one more step toward making the full advantages of our combined Bank of America and Merrill Lynch platform of products and services easily accessible.”

Typically, advisors communicate with their clients through monitored channels or applications designed specifically to meet strict compliance measures requiring firms to record all communications.

Although text messaging is a critical form of modern day communication, compliance can be more challenging as text messages can be sent between mobile phones, tablets and computers, making them inherently harder to supervise, monitor and archive.

To avoid a compliance lapse, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has partnered with CellTrust to manage, track and deliver text messaging through its BlackBerry application, which ensures all communications are time-and date-stamped, tracked, logged and archived, it said. The program will be rolled out this month and next to the group’s approximately 15,000 advisors.