The boss of Bank of America’s wealth management division, which has become the world’s biggest after BoA’s purchase of Merrill Lynch, will spend $20 million on a marketing re-launch for the iconic Merrill “thundering herd” brand, media reports said.

The announcement was made by Sallie Krawcheck to journalists yesterday. She is president of Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management.

Ms Krawcheck was quoted as saying that Merrill Lynch's current financial advisor headcount is 14,994 brokers. She said the firm has recruited 181 advisors over the past five weeks.

The media briefing was Ms Krawcheck's first such presentation at Bank of America, after she took over at the bank’s global wealth and investment management operations in August. She was previously head of the wealth management unit at Citi.

Reports said Ms Krawcheck declined to comment on whether she will succeed Ken Lewis to the role of BoA chief executive; Mr Lewis is due to step down next year.

Ms Krawcheck announced a number of senior management changes at the end of September. Keith Banks and John Thiel are the new co-leaders of Private Wealth Management, with Mr Banks also serving as president of US Trust, the New York wealth management unit for high net worth clients that BoA bought in 2006.