Merrill Edge

Neither — Merrill Edge is a self-directed brokerage and digital wealth-platform sub-unit of Bank of America, not a family office or a discretionary wealth manager. It provides execution, custody, and guided-investing portfolios to retail and mass-affluent individuals, with no separate fiduciary entity or independent capital base.

Merrill Edge does not deploy proprietary balance-sheet capital and does not sponsor direct-investment funds. The platform distributes mutual funds, ETFs, and model portfolios managed by BofA Global Research and external managers, but all investment decisions rest with the end-client.

Both are housed inside Bank of America’s Global Wealth & Investment Management division. Merrill Lynch serves as the full-service, advisor-led wealth-management business, while Merrill Edge was built as a digital-only, no-advisory-relationship-required brokerage that draws on Merrill-branded research. The two share some back-office infrastructure but operate as distinct client channels.

Revenue comes primarily from net interest margin on cash balances swept to Bank of America-affiliated deposit accounts, payment for order flow on equity and options trades, mutual-fund shelf-space fees, and tiered advisory-fee rates on Guided Investing accounts that hold ETF-based model portfolios.

The platform has no separately disclosed standalone offices or dedicated leadership roster. Clients can access in-person support through Bank of America financial centers, but all core platform operations — trade execution, portfolio rebalancing, and research distribution — are digital and centrally managed from the parent bank’s infrastructure.