Merrill keeps retiring private wealth head on board after leader Sieg jumps to Citigroup

Merrill Lynch veteran Don Plaus was due to retire at midnight March 31, but will delay his planned departure as the head of private wealth, a sudden twist barely one day after a massive shakeup saw Merrill president Andy Sieg depart.

Bank of America

Plaus's unexpected news was announced internally on Friday to Merrill's roughly 200 teams of private wealth advisors, a Merrill spokesperson said late Friday. The bank did not issue a press release or statement about the return and declined to further comment or provide interviews. 

It's the latest surprise news from the giant Wall Street bank.

The 60-year-old Plaus had planned to leave Merrill Wealth Management after March 31. But Sieg's departure Thursday for Citigroup, where he will become the new head of Citi Global Wealth, apparently triggered a scramble to fill senior wealth management roles. The sudden return of Plaus could indicate Merrill faced sudden or unanticipated challenges when Sieg announced his departure.

When he announced his retirement, Plaus was the head of the Private Wealth Management, International and Institutional groups at Merrill Wealth Management.

Parent company Bank of America named Lindsay Hans and Eric Schimpf Thursday as the new presidents and co-heads of Merrill Wealth Management, replacing Sieg effectively immediately. 

Hans was promoted in February to replace Plaus as he transitioned to retirement. With Hans moving up, her role — Plaus's prior role — was vacant.

Prior to that, Hans was a division executive for six years, for the Mid-Atlantic and then for the Northeast. Schimpf was formerly the Pacific Coast division executive and co-head of Enterprise Advisor Development. 

Sieg began his career at Merrill in 2001 as a broker and left for Citi in 2005. He returned to Merrill in 2009 and became its top executive in 2017. 

"Andy Sieg was very much the ever visible public face of Merrill, so his departure is a real shocker," recruiter Mark Elzweig said in an email. 

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With Plaus still on board, the Wall Street bank will regain a leader with more than 32 years of experience.

Plaus joined Merrill in 1990 as a financial advisor and became the head of the Private Banking & Investment Group in 2017 — which was later rebranded as the Private Wealth Management, International and Institutional groups. PWM serves clients who generally have at least $10 million in assets. Plaus's group includes advisors as well as specialists in areas including portfolio management and estate planning.

Plaus grew the total number of PWM clients by over 30% and client balances by 46% during the past five years, and led the unit 's expansion in Florida, where many ultrarich clients moved in recent years. 

There is no clear timeline on when Plaus will actually retire, the spokesperson said. There is also no replacement yet for the role Schimpf vacated. 

In a 2021 online interview, Plaus spoke about the roles he had filled at Merrill. 

"The assignments that I was asked to take on, and the places that I was asked to go, weren't always places that I ever thought or planned to go to," he said. 

"Your career is almost like watching your home being built. Everything starts on a foundation and it just sort of moves up."