Merrill Lynch Becomes Latest Wall Street Firm to Launch AI Client Meeting Tool

Merrill’s latest AI technology wants to crash your next client meeting.

The Wall Street bank, along with Bank of America Private Bank, announced the rollout of Meeting Journey this week, an AI-powered tool designed to automate client meetings, handling everything from gathering recent client activity and insights beforehand, to following up with notes and next best actions afterward. The technology can save advisors as much as four hours per meeting, according to a release, which sounds like a lot. If the promised efficiencies hold up, however, tools like this could fundamentally reshape how advisors allocate the hours in their day. Basically, AI handles the paperwork, advisors handle the people.

“This is time our teams are reinvesting into client engagement,” said Shimna Sameer of BofA Private Bank.

Life’s All About the Journey

During virtual client calls, the new Merrill tool acts as an AI notetaker, capturing highlights and sharing summaries. Afterward, it generates follow-ups, action items and documentation based on the conversation. BofA said it invests roughly $13.5 billion annually in technology, with $4 billion earmarked for new initiatives like AI. “[Merrill] is utilizing note takers as an information capture to then power downstream workflows — or at least that’s the goal,” said Jason Pereira, a CFP and financial planner at Woodgate Financial, adding that it’s “impossible to summarize” how much time AI tools are saving advisors at his own firm. “The efficiency gains that I managed to eke out have definitely led to more time related to content and other client-facing activities that will continue to fuel growth.”

Of course, Merrill isn’t the first wirehouse to lean into AI-powered meeting tools. Rival Morgan Stanley rolled out a similar capability in June 2024 and reported record revenue and profits in its wealth management unit that October, which executives directly attributed to the new tool. (Although, that one only freed up half an hour per client meeting, psshh.) According to a recent Fidelity survey, the industry is quickly adopting artificial intelligence:

• More than two-thirds are already using Gen AI, and the vast majority reported tangible time savings. 
• Among users, nearly 4 in 5 use it for writing assistance, note-taking and meeting preparation. Over half of respondents said they use an AI assistant or copilot.

“[AI] hasn’t led to a direct or immediate increase in revenue or assets, but we’re seeing a boost in productivity that will have downstream effects,” said Jacob Tally, a financial planner at Prospero Wealth. His firm uses an AI content manager that helped increase organic traffic by 50% this quarter, while saving thousands of dollars on website managers. “We’re confident these gains will help us grow revenue and assets over time.” 

Oh, the Humanity. Like many of its competitors, Merrill emphasized human connections, and that advisors will remain central to the relationship. “Meeting Journey represents a meaningful advancement in how the wealth management industry uses AI,” said Patricio Diaz, chief operating officer at Merrill. If nothing else, it’s fewer hours writing up meeting notes, which in an industry built on compounding, seems like a great return on investment.