(Corrects headline to show Thatch joins American Funds not American Century)
By Jed Horowitz
NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters) - Peter Thatch, the chief liaison between Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and mutual fund companies and money managers who want access to its vast client network, has joined American Funds in Los Angeles, according to executives at both companies.
Thatch, who had been with Merrill for almost 20 years, was managing director for third-party distribution for about six years at the Bank of America brokerage subsidiary. At American Funds, a unit of The Capital Group of Companies, he is a senior vice president responsible for retail product management and strategy.
Thatch joined the Los Angeles-based company this month, after a "garden leave" at Merrill that started in September 2014. American Funds was for many years the biggest mutual fund family in the United States, with sales made primarily through brokerage firms, but has recently lost market share to companies offering index funds and other passively managed products.
As of end-February, American Funds held $1.2 trillion of assets, excluding money-market funds, ranking third behind Vanguard and Fidelity Investments, according to fund data-tracking firm Morningstar.
Merrill has named Brian Rosevear to replace Thatch.
The shift comes amid broader changes within Merrill's managed money division. Sandy Bolton, who has overseen mutual fund, exchange-traded fund and separately managed accounts for more than 20 years at TD Ameritrade Holdings and Pershing LLC, is joining Merrill in a new position as head of investment solutions later this month, a Merrill spokeswoman said.
Bolton, who began her career as a fund trader at Merrill, served most recently as managing director of investment solutions in Pershing's financial solutions group. A Pershing spokeswoman declined to comment on plans for her replacement.
Rosevear, whose job includes negotiating the fees funds pay and the sales support services they must provide to join Bank of America's retail platforms, will report to Bolton.
Bolton, in turn, reports to Lorna Sabbia, Merrill's head of managed solutions. Sabbia was a key architect of Merrill One, which has merged five money management programs ranging from funds of funds to broker-picked funds, into a single platform. The program has been lauded by analysts and rival firms for creating efficiencies, fee coherency and asset growth for Merrill. Some of the firm's almost 14,000 brokers object that it deprives them of flexibility choosing programs and pricing appropriate for their clients.