It looks like Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE: BAC) is going downstream: it has launched a new online brokerage called Merrill Edge, which looks like it wants to compete with the likes of Charles Schwab, E*Trade and Fidelity. The site says commissions will be waived for up to 30 trades per month for customers making trades without an adviser's assistance.

To qualify, customers must have $25,000 or more in deposits at Bank of America or $25,000 or more in cash balances in one of two Merrill sweep-option accounts, or be clients of U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, notes Bizjournals.

If you want to be a full-service firm, you really have to offer something like this. A lot of high-net-worth customers just might want to do some trading themselves. You can't fight that. Better to keep that mad money in-house. It would also seem to be a cross-selling opportunity. The economics of online brokerage have been proven. 

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