Sallie Krawcheck is no stranger to big challenges. But is the Bank of America Merrill Lynch brokerage behemoth too much for her? Is it too much for any individual? Is the combined firm so unwieldy and rife with cultural divisions that no executive could do much with it? While that ultimately remains to be seen, there are some positives she has pointed to.

Krawcheck has made headway in terms of cross-selling between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, something that many thought would be difficult, notes Reuters. In 2010, the wealth management division, mainly Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust, took in more than 5,300 referrals from other divisions at Bank of America, more than three times the referrals in 2009. The wealth management unit also referred more than 8,000 clients to the commercial and banking and markets divisions, a 71 percent increase over 2009. 

Bank of America is especially bullish on its new plans to acquire more retirement assets from Bank of America customers and funnel them to Merrill Lynch or its new online services. All of that is good news of course.

But at some point these success stories have to translate into more high-producing brokers/advisors and more assets under management. On that issue, skeptics remain.

Krawcheck said she expects revenue to grow 6 to 7 percent, but declined to give a time frame, according to Reuters. However, the market may be moving her way. With individuals enticed by stocks again, financial advice looms as a sought-after service. The competition is intense for customers and advisors.

Krawcheck also said the unit is still paying out several hundred million dollars in retention bonuses to Merrill Lynch brokers. These payments will not be completed until 2016 or 2017. 

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