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Bank of America Merrill Lynch Tells Advisers To Stop Selling Mutual Funds In Brokerage IRAs Now
FYI: Bank of America Merrill Lynch told its financial advisers Tuesday to halt the sale of mutual funds in brokerage-based individual retirement accounts, months before the Labor Department's new fiduciary regulation takes effect. Regards, Ted http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20161101/FREE/161109984?template=printart
BofA says that advising clients to buy mutual funds in a commission-based account would create a conflict of interest. Apparently they are concerned about clients subsequently moving their funds to an asset-based (wrap) account. The clients would wind up paying twice for the same purchase (commission and subsequent wrap fee).
Somehow BofA has no concern with the same conflict of interest arising from the purchase of commission-based stocks and ETFs in the same IRA accounts.
To reiterate a different comment I made in an earlier post, this does not affect Merrill Edge. The current article says: " IRA [advisory] brokerage clients will have the option to transition onto Merrill One, the firm's investment advisory platform, or onto Merrill Edge." Rather than regarding Merrill Edge as a potential IRA problem, BofA views it as a safe place for IRAs.
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Somehow BofA has no concern with the same conflict of interest arising from the purchase of commission-based stocks and ETFs in the same IRA accounts.
To reiterate a different comment I made in an earlier post, this does not affect Merrill Edge. The current article says: " IRA [advisory] brokerage clients will have the option to transition onto Merrill One, the firm's investment advisory platform, or onto Merrill Edge." Rather than regarding Merrill Edge as a potential IRA problem, BofA views it as a safe place for IRAs.