Bank of America Corp.’s wealth management and private banking group is looking to grow its Orange County operations.
The unit added a Costa Mesa office last year and is set to open another this year. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America declined to say where the new office would be.
A few years ago, BofA set up a Newport Beach hub for its private wealth and investment arm, which also serves Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire.
“Our number of associates has doubled in the last three years and we expect it to continue to grow in the 5% to 7% range,” said Kim Burdick, head of the premier banking and investment group for Southern California.
He declined to say how many people work for the unit now.
“We are doubling the scale of our business, both in customers and in assets,” Burdick said. “We didn’t staff up here in order to grow. We staffed because we are growing now.”
The push is part of a larger strategy by BofA to expand in growing markets.
“Bank of America considers Orange County among its top 10 markets in the nation,” Burdick said. “We expect to continue to grow in OC, perhaps at a faster rate than the rest of the nation.”
The wealth and investment arm is divided into three groups.
The premier banking and investments group goes after BofA bank customers who have $500,000 to $5 million in deposits, investments and loans.
The private bank group targets people with $5 million in assets or more, including real estate, oil and gas holdings and patents.
The third, most exclusive tier is the family wealth unit, which focuses on customers with $25 million or more in assets.
The private banking group helps customers with buying stock or investing in private equity, venture capital or hedge funds.
Wealth management is a big business for BofA. The bank has about 150 offices in the U.S.
It also has a lot of competition.
Local competitors include San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., which battles BofA locally for the top spot in retail banking, Deutsche Bank AG and newcomer Wachovia Corp.
A year ago, Wachovia also bought a 72% stake in Newport Beach-based Metropolitan West Capital Management LLC for an undisclosed amount.
Nationally, BofA’s wealth management division grew assets 13% last year to about $543 billion. BofA doesn’t break out figures for OC.
“We have had this premier banking and investments line of business for 13 years,” Burdick said. “We started before a lot of other competitors.”
Burdick brought in a trio of executives to the Newport Beach office at the end of 2005 to lead the expansion.
Brian Wineke heads the private banking group for OC and the Inland Empire.
Steve Mahinfar runs the premier banking and investments group under Burdick for OC, San Diego and the Inland Empire.
Ben Prince is head of BofA investments for all of Southern California.
The shift of power to Newport Beach showed a change in thinking about OC, said Shari Battle, market development manager for OC.
“We had always been just a satellite of Los Angeles or San Diego,” she said.
BofA is picky about who it brings on board in the private wealth business.
The bank has shifted away from luring money managers with their own clients to hiring and training them.
It has a two- to three-year training program for private bankers.
“One of our growth strategies is to develop talent internally,” Burdick said. “We know that we are going to stay with this business for a long time.”
