Financial giant Merrill Lynch expects to expand its local workforce of financial advisers by at least 15 people during the next two years, the president of the company’s private client group said Tuesday.
Bob McCann, whose metro-Denver division oversees more than $13 billion in client assets, said two factors will drive the expansion: population growth and the number of wealthy entrepreneurs with roots here.
“Denver is an important market for us and we want to be bigger,” said McCann, who is based in New York and visited the company’s downtown Denver office. “The population and the wealth is growing.”
New York-based Merrill, the investment-banking and stock-brokerage firm, employs about 250 people locally, including about 170 financial advisers.
To accommodate the expansion, Merrill next month will take out an additional 4,200 square feet at its Cherry Creek office. That location could add about 10 advisers, up from its current roster of 30.
The other workers will be added at any of Merrill’s three other metro-area outlets: Boulder, Denver or Englewood, said Mi chael Cuomo, managing director of the Denver region.
Cuomo said Denver is key for Merrill because the metro area counts about 30,000 households with $1 million or more of investable assets. He said the number of such households here is expected to grow by 64 percent during the next five years, faster than the U.S. average of 55 percent.
“It’s clearly a growth market for us.”
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-954-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
