(April 9 – 13:15 ET) – The Wall Street Letter is reporting that Merrill Lynch brokers in the United States are dropping the “financial consultants” tag in favour of new names to reflect the firm’s segmented sales force.

The newsletter reports that Merrill’s brokers will be operating under one of three new titles depending on their particular niche: financial advisors, private wealth management advisors and private wealth managers.

Traditional brokers will become known as financial advisors.

Brokers who have earned designations such as a chartered financial analyst designation will be called “wealth management advisors”. The wealth management advisors will be targeted at clients who have US$1 million to US$5 million in investable assets.

Brokers working with high-net-worth clients, those with at least US$5 million to invest, will be called “private wealth managers”.

The segmentation of the firm’s sales force matches its segmentation of clients. Merrill has recently consolidated call centres to serve low-end clients. It is beefing up the ranks of private wealth managers, but it expects to focus on its traditional core market that will be served by wealth management advisors. The brokerage firm sees this niche growing 13% annually.

In Canada, Merrill’s brokers not only have the firm’s directives dictating their names, they also face new rules from regulators. Starting in 2002, regulators in several provinces will require brokers who plan to use names implying the provision of financial planning services, including “financial consultant”, to pass a standardized proficiency exam.