Appearing at the Salomon Smith Barney Investor Conference today, Merrill Lynch president Stan O’Neal outlined his firm’s plan for the future.

O’Neal noted that Merrill, which sold its Canadian retail business to CIBC in November for about $600 million, is refocusing its remaining international retail business on the high- and ultra-high-net-worth market.

“Through divestitures in Canada and South Africa, and consolidations in Japan, Australia and elsewhere, we reduced the number of accounts served by about 60%, and the number of financial advisors by about 40%, but the corresponding reduction in assets is much less — only 20%,” he said.

“By refocusing the business, we can rationalize our operations and technology costs, and concentrate our investment on a more select range of opportunities.” He projected that the firm will have about 1,500 advisors in 60 offices in 37 countries, “focused on providing comprehensive banking and investment services to high and ultra-high-net-worth clients, including middle-markets businesses and institutions. This is our core strength and our most promising area for growth in this sector.”

In the U.S. retail business, O’Neal said the firm currently has about 14,000 financial advisors, a third of which are now in teams, including 180 who have gone through its accreditation program as Private Wealth Advisors, focusing exclusively on higher-net-worth clients. It runs US$1.2 trillion in U.S. private client assets, averaging out to US$90 million per advisor, but many teams have well over a billion dollars under management he noted. “We are gaining share in virtually every district across the United States. Also, nearly two-thirds of these assets are from households who have a million dollars or more at Merrill Lynch.”

O’Neal said that last year, Merrill enrolled 1 million accounts with under US$100,000 in its call centers, the Financial Advisory Center. “This process will continue this year, at a somewhat slower pace. Our experience with the FAC has been excellent: Client satisfaction has improved, and revenue velocity per dollar of assets has virtually doubled in 12 months.”

He also noted that it has formed ML Capital to focus on the middle-market lending business, where it sees a significant opportunity to grow its business.