SEC-registered wealth management firm Broker-dealer affiliated
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated
As of its Form ADV filed September 24, 2026, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, an SEC-registered, broker-dealer affiliated wealth management firm in New York, New York, reported $1.8 trillion in regulatory assets under management across 3,253,265 accounts, ranking #2 among all wealth firms in New York by assets.
Registration
- Registration
- SEC-registered, Approved
- CRD number
- 7691
- SEC file number
- 801-14235
- Registered since
- December 8, 1978
- Latest Form ADV filing
- September 24, 2026
- Organized as
- Corporation
- Fiscal year ends
- December
- Other offices
- 3,910
Key figures
- Regulatory assets under management
- $1.8 trillion
- Discretionary
- $441.3 billion (24.8%)
- Non-discretionary
- $1.3 trillion
- Accounts
- 3,253,265 (713,174 discretionary)
- Clients
- 1,855,828, approximate as reported
- Employees
- 32,960
- Advisory staff
- 25,721 performing investment advisory functions
- Average account
- $547,625
- Asset growth, 1 year
- 17.9% (from $1.5 trillion a year earlier)
- Asset growth, 3-year annual rate
- 17.7% (from $1.1 trillion three years earlier)
- Asset growth, 5-year annual rate
- 10.4% (from $1.1 trillion five years earlier)
- Client growth, 1 year
- 5.7% (from 1,755,015)
Broker-dealer affiliated. The firm is itself a broker-dealer as well as an investment adviser (Form ADV Item 6.A(1)). It is ranked among all wealth firms, the directory's view that includes wirehouses and broker-dealer firms, not in the main lists of independent RIAs. How firms are classed.
Growth rates come from the SEC's yearly snapshots and are left blank when the years are not comparable.
Rankings
Among all wealth firms, including wirehouses and broker-dealer firms.
Assets over time
Data table
| As of | RAUM |
|---|---|
| October 1, 2010 | $257.9 billion |
| October 3, 2011 | $341.7 billion |
| October 1, 2012 | $321.4 billion |
| October 1, 2013 | $385.0 billion |
| October 1, 2014 | $485.5 billion |
| October 1, 2015 | $560.7 billion |
| October 3, 2016 | $575.3 billion |
| October 2, 2017 | $639.6 billion |
| October 1, 2018 | $819.8 billion |
| October 1, 2019 | $797.3 billion |
| October 1, 2020 | $962.1 billion |
| October 4, 2021 | $1.1 trillion |
| October 3, 2022 | $1.3 trillion |
| October 5, 2023 | $1.1 trillion |
| October 1, 2024 | $1.3 trillion |
| September 2, 2025 | $1.5 trillion |
| October 2, 2026 | $1.8 trillion |
Clients and services
Client mix
| Measure | Bar | RAUM |
|---|---|---|
| High net worth individuals 521,763 clients | $1.2 trillion | |
| Individuals (other than high net worth) 1,269,968 clients | $313.5 billion | |
| Corporations or other businesses 22,807 clients | $131.2 billion | |
| Pension and profit sharing plans 17,422 clients | $58.9 billion | |
| Charitable organizations 6,759 clients | $43.0 billion | |
| Insurance companies 246 clients | $5.9 billion | |
| Other 19 clients | $1.4 billion |
How the firm is paid
- A percentage of assets under management
- Fixed fees
- Commissions
Advisory services
- Portfolio management for individuals or small businesses
- Portfolio management for businesses or institutional clients
- Pension consulting
- Selection of other advisers
- Educational seminars or workshops
- Other
Wrap fee program sponsor or portfolio manager: yes.
Other business, affiliations and custody
Other business activities (Item 6.A)
- Broker-dealer
- Insurance broker or agent
Financial industry affiliations (Item 7.A)
- Broker-dealer
- Other investment adviser
- Swap dealer
- Futures commission merchant
- Banking or thrift institution
- Trust company
- Insurance company or agency
- Pension consultant
- Real estate broker, dealer or agent
Custody (Item 9)
The firm reported custody of client cash or securities, $1.8 trillion in total.
Investment adviser representatives
- IARs registered with the firm
- 25,564
- Also registered through a broker-dealer
- 25,557
- Employees who are IARs (Form ADV 5.B(3))
- 25,721
Designations held by the firm's IARs: CFP 152, CFA 24, ChFC 8.
Between 4,461 and 17,416 of the firm's 25,564 IARs are registered in jurisdictions that require IAR CE. The source counts registrations by jurisdiction, and many IARs are registered in more than one, so the exact number is not knowable from it. IAR CE requirements by state.
Counts only. AdvisorIQ does not list individual people.
Disclosures
On Form ADV Item 11 the firm answered yes to 20 disclosure questions. See the detail on IAPD.
Succession and acquired firms
On Form ADV Item 4 the firm did not report succeeding to another adviser's business.
Similar-sized firms in New York
| Firm | City | RAUM |
|---|---|---|
| Morgan Stanley | Purchase | $2.0 trillion |
| J.P. Morgan Securities LLC | New York | $429.7 billion |
| RBC Capital Markets, LLC | New York | $310.4 billion |
| Cerity Partners LLC | New York | $161.7 billion |
| Rockefeller Capital Management | New York | $99.6 billion |
The five wealth firms, broker-dealer affiliated firms included, nearest in regulatory assets with a main office in the same state.
Elsewhere
- Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated on IAPD: Form ADV, brochures and disclosure detail.
- Firm website: www.merrill.com
- Wealth management firms in New York
Firm data as of October 2, 2026, from ia100226.zip. Figures are as the firm reported them; corrections are made on Form ADV and appear after the next monthly reload.
Data as of October 2, 2026, from Form ADV. Sources: SEC registered adviser data (ia100226.zip) and IAPD compilation reports. How the directory is built.