Bank of America private banking is the ultra-high-net-worth arm of Bank of America, open to clients with at least $3 million in investable assets and built around a dedicated team that handles investments, lending, trust and estate work, and day-to-day banking under one relationship.1Bank of America. What We Offer Fees are generally charged as a negotiated percentage of assets under management, and the depth of service scales with how much you bring. Below is what the minimums actually buy, how the Private Bank differs from Merrill Lynch, and what to look at before you sign.
What It Takes to Become a Client
The published entry point is $3 million in investable assets.1Bank of America. What We Offer That number gets you a Private Client Advisor and a Private Banker, but access to the full menu is tiered.
The bank’s premium alternative investment strategies, which include select hedge funds and private equity, require at least $5 million in combined assets held at Merrill and Bank of America, or over $10 million in total investable assets including accounts held elsewhere. Trust and fiduciary services sit higher still, at $20 million in combined assets at Merrill and Bank of America, N.A.2Bank of America. Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank Launch New Alternative Investment Strategies At that level, the team expands to include specialists in estate law, tax strategy, and private credit.
Investable assets generally include brokerage accounts, managed portfolios, and certain deposits, but not the equity in your primary residence. A client at $3 million gets a capable advisor; a client at $20 million gets a coordinated group whose job is to make sure tax planning, investments, lending, and estate work fit together.
Identity and Source-of-Wealth Review
Clearing the asset bar is only the first step. Federal rules require every bank to run a Customer Identification Program before opening an account, collecting your name, date of birth, residential or business address, and taxpayer identification number (or a passport and country of issuance for non-U.S. persons).3eCFR. 31 CFR 1020.220 – Customer Identification Program Requirements for Banks For a Private Bank account, due diligence goes further than a retail experience. The bank verifies the source of your wealth, the nature of any business activities, and the origin of funds being transferred in. Expect to produce government-issued ID, evidence of tax residency, and corporate or trust documents for any entities involved.
This review is not negotiable, and anti-money laundering rules apply equally to a client depositing $3 million and one depositing $50 million. Complex situations, especially when wealth originates from multiple countries or business structures, can take several weeks to clear.
How It Differs From Merrill Lynch
Both Bank of America Private Bank and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management sit inside Global Wealth and Investment Management, but they serve different clients. Merrill Lynch Wealth Management starts at $250,000 in investable assets and delivers investment guidance through individual financial advisors.1Bank of America. What We Offer The Private Bank targets ultra-high-net-worth clients and uses a dedicated team model rather than a single-advisor relationship.
The practical gain from being inside this structure is cross-divisional access. A Private Bank client building a family business toward a sale can tap Bank of America Securities for capital markets advice or IPO planning without opening a separate relationship. The integration flows the other way too: elevated consumer banking perks, specialized credit cards, and tailored deposit accounts come through the Bank of America, N.A. side. Merrill Lynch advisors frequently refer clients who have grown past the $3 million mark into the Private Bank, so the move tends to be a handoff rather than a cold start.
The Consumer Banking Side
Starting in May 2026, Bank of America is replacing Preferred Rewards with BofA Rewards. The new program has four tiers based on three-month combined average daily balance in qualifying deposits and investments: Member (under $30,000), Preferred Plus ($30,000 to $100,000), Preferred Honors ($100,000 to $1 million), and Premier ($1 million or more). Private Bank clients automatically qualify for the Premier tier regardless of deposit balance, which unlocks the highest credit card rewards rates and consumer banking fee waivers.4Bank of America. Bank of America BofA Rewards Program
What You Actually Get
Investments
The investment platform is where the Private Bank separates most clearly from a standard Merrill advisory relationship. Clients gain access to alternatives that are not available through retail channels, including curated hedge funds, private equity, and private real estate strategies. The broader alternative menu again requires at least $5 million in combined assets at Merrill and Bank of America, or over $10 million in total investable assets.5Bank of America. Premium Access Strategies – Enhanced Portfolio Management
The firm’s Chief Investment Office produces proprietary research and runs due diligence on third-party managers. Portfolios are actively managed and can incorporate tax-loss harvesting, asset location across taxable and tax-deferred accounts, and concentrated stock management for clients with large single-position exposures. For philanthropic goals, the bank can establish and manage donor-advised funds or private foundations.
Lending
Private Bank lending does not resemble a consumer loan application. The flagship product is a securities-based line of credit, where part of your managed portfolio serves as collateral for a flexible credit facility. You get liquidity without selling appreciated securities and triggering capital gains tax. These lines are “non-purpose,” meaning the proceeds can be used for almost anything except buying more securities.
Under Federal Reserve Regulation T, the initial borrowing limit on equity securities is 50% of their current market value.6eCFR. 12 CFR Part 220 – Credit by Brokers and Dealers (Regulation T) In practice, the Private Bank sets its own loan-to-value ratios that vary by the type of securities pledged. A diversified portfolio of blue-chip stocks earns a higher advance rate than a concentrated position in a volatile sector or an illiquid alternative. If the market value of your pledged securities drops enough that your loan balance exceeds the maintenance threshold, the bank can issue a collateral call, and if you do not meet it the bank can liquidate securities from your portfolio without your permission.
Beyond securities-based lending, the Private Bank handles specialized mortgage financing for second homes, properties held in trust structures, and high-value primary residences that exceed conventional lending limits. For business owners, the relationship opens a path to the firm’s broader capital markets and investment banking resources, including pre-liquidity planning for a business sale.
Trust and Estate Services
The fiduciary platform is what distinguishes the Private Bank from wealth managers that only handle investments. Trust and fiduciary services are provided through Bank of America, N.A. and U.S. Trust Company of Delaware, though the bank does not act in a fiduciary capacity with respect to all products and services.7Bank of America Private Bank. The Fiduciary Standard – What Is It and Key Details Where fiduciary duties apply, the bank is legally required to act solely in your best interests when managing trust assets, serving as trustee, or administering an estate.
Bank of America ranks as the largest provider of managed personal trust services in the country, with $108 billion under management according to FDIC call reports as of September 2025.8Bank of America Private Bank. Trust and Estate Services and Solutions for Individuals and Families The bank can serve as corporate trustee, executor, or custodian, and administers complex structures including grantor retained annuity trusts, dynasty trusts, and generation-skipping trusts for multi-generational wealth transfer.
Estate planning carries fresh relevance going into 2026. The federal estate and gift tax exemption has been set at $15 million per person starting January 1, 2026, under recently enacted legislation that replaced the expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions. Unlike the TCJA’s doubled exemption, this new baseline has no sunset. For a married couple using portability, up to $30 million can transfer free of federal estate tax. The annual gift tax exclusion for 2026 is $19,000 per recipient, or $38,000 per recipient for married couples who split gifts.9Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions on Gift Taxes For clients with assets well above the exemption, the trust team structures transfers to limit estate tax exposure across generations.
What It Costs
The primary charge is a percentage of assets under management, billed quarterly. It covers advisory services, research, portfolio management, trade execution, and reporting within managed accounts. The exact percentage depends on asset size and is negotiable. Industry norms for portfolios in the Private Bank’s range typically fall between 0.50% and 1.00% annually, with the rate declining as assets rise, but Bank of America does not publish a standard fee schedule.
Not everything sits inside the AUM fee. Trades executed outside a managed advisory program may draw per-transaction commissions on stocks, options, or bonds. Trust administration carries its own fees, usually a percentage of the trust assets under administration or a flat annual charge. Complex one-time projects, such as a comprehensive estate plan or tax restructuring, may be billed as a fixed project fee. The specifics appear in the advisory and trust agreements you sign at onboarding, so read them carefully before committing.
How Your Money Is Protected
Balances at the Private Bank level routinely exceed standard insurance limits, so it is worth knowing where the lines fall.
Cash deposits at Bank of America, N.A. are insured by the FDIC up to $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category.10FDIC.gov. Understanding Deposit Insurance Ownership categories include single accounts, joint accounts, certain retirement accounts, and trust accounts. A client who holds a single account, a joint account with a spouse, and a revocable trust account at the same bank would receive $250,000 of coverage for each category. For deposits of $3 million or more, structuring across ownership categories and multiple institutions may be necessary to stay fully insured.
Securities and cash held in brokerage accounts through Merrill are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation up to $500,000, including a $250,000 limit for cash, if the brokerage firm fails financially.11SIPC. What SIPC Protects SIPC does not cover investment losses, bad advice, or declines in market value. It protects against the brokerage firm itself going under and your assets being missing. Merrill Lynch carries supplemental “excess SIPC” coverage through a Lloyd’s of London syndicate, providing additional protection per customer, including up to $1.9 million for cash, subject to an aggregate loss limit of $1 billion across all customer claims. Even these supplemental limits may not cover the full value of an ultra-high-net-worth portfolio, which is part of why the Private Bank emphasizes diversification across custodians and asset types.