(March 12 – 13:00 ET) – The Wall Street Letter reports that in the United States Merrill Lynch is setting up call centres for its less-affluent clients, as it encourages brokers to focus on its wealthy client base.

The newsletter says that Merrill Lynch’s Investor Services Group, a new division that serves clients through a call center, is on a roadshow to encourage brokers to use the service for clients with less than US$100,000 in investable assets. The ISG will be staffed by a team of brokers. However clients will not be able to establish one-on-one relationships with the brokers.

The WSL says that Stanley O’Neal, president of the firm’s U.S. private client group, will push the program at Merrill’s Investor Day Conference today in New York. The firm began a roadshow two weeks ago in New England, and it plans appearances all across the U.S.

The WSL says the service has ramped up its capabilities in an effort to handle 500,000 accounts this year. The new group is getting the big push from the firm, which will continue to pay brokers the fees from their old accounts that are transferred to the ISG. “We’re getting paid to do nothing,” the WSJ quotes one Merrill insider as saying.