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In an interview with Kris Frieswick reporting for OnWallStreet, John Thiel, head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, discusses what Merrill is doing to meet the competitive challenge of the RIA model.

“The number one thing clients want is transparency. They want understandable fees. They will pay them if they understand them. RIAs have found this opportunity to have a more transparent discussion. So what are we doing about that? We just announced a platform that is rolling all client account activity into one platform, with one fee schedule. It’s a single program, easy to explain, easy for clients to understand and completely transparent. We eliminated as many conflicts as we could—but with conflict also comes the ability for our clients to get loans from us, for instance, which is good for our clients.”

You can read the entire interview HERE.