Morgan Stanley is following Merrill Lynch’s lead in segmenting its workforce to target high net worth clients, according to the latest issue of the Wall Street Letter.

The WSL says that Morgan Stanley is developing a new designation for brokers who serve clients with between US$1 million and US$10 million in assets.

It says these brokers may be called “wealth managers”, and are targeted at clients who fall between its basic retail clientele and the private wealth management group, which targets clients with millions to invest. A Morgan Stanley spokesman declined to comment.

The firm has also created a system for sharing accounts between the three client segments to facilitate transfers. “This is an attempt to get our high-net-worth accounts out of our hands and there is not a broker out there that is going to give them up,” one branch manager complained to the WSL.

The new sales force will be filled by bigger producers from the mainstream force. They will be asked to go through additional training to teach them about specialized offerings for wealthy clients and it will help them to work more effectively with the private wealth group, it says.

It also reports that Morgan Stanley is considering using a salary plus bonus structure for private wealth brokers. “I would work for US Trust or J.P. Morgan Chase if I wanted a salary and bonus,” said one broker from private wealth management, adding that he did not like how the firm discouraged him from working with accounts that were less than $10 million.