BofA's Krawcheck gives Sieg expanded wealth management role

Bank of America Corp.'s wealth- management division President Sallie Krawcheck has given retirement services head Andrew Sieg added responsibility over a unit managing investment products. Sieg, 44, will be in charge of global investment solutions, Krawcheck told employees today in a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. Kunal Kamlani, 38, who joined Bank of America about 15 months ago, has decided to step down as the unit's leader to pursue a career outside the firm, Krawcheck said. He had commuted to New York from Florida, where his family resides. Krawcheck is increasing Sieg's duties about two months after she picked John Thiel over him to become head of the 15,500-person Merrill Lynch brokerage, known as the “Thundering Herd.” The investment group, with about 1,000 employees, oversees products that are linked to nearly half of the wealth division's $16.7 billion in revenue last year. “Andy has done an outstanding job leading retirement services, which is on pace this year to surpass the record growth achieved in 2010,” Krawcheck said in the memo. Krawcheck, 46, hired Sieg in 2009 from Citigroup Inc., where he ran a subsidiary focusing on the newly affluent. Krawcheck ran New York-based Citigroup's wealth-management unit before joining Bank of America in August 2009. The investment group determines the suitability of products such as mutual funds, private-equity holdings and hedge-fund assets for brokerage clients. Kamlani was chief operating officer of Citigroup's brokerage unit and then chief financial officer of Prestige Cruise Holdings Inc. before joining Bank of America last year. Susan Thomson, a spokeswoman for Charlotte, North Carolina- based Bank of America, confirmed the authenticity of the memo and said Sieg's transition would begin immediately. --Bloomberg News--