Lost in the earnings hubub, one bright spot at Bank of America has been overlooked: wealth management. Financial News Online notes that revenues rose 24 percent, bolstered by the acquisition of U.S. Trust, which contributed about 10 percent to revenue.

Bank of America is hardly the only bank in growth mode. Lehman Brothers is also expanding; it recently bought HA Schupf. UBS has plans to double assets under management over the next 8 years. Some banks are aiming to set up operations in Asia. Both Citigroup and Deutsche Bank are among that group. There's certainly a lot of personal wealth out there. It will be interesting to see how much true price competition develops. For now, these programs tend to be somewhat expensive. It may be that the high end is less responsive to super low fees.  

 For more:
- here's the Financial News Online article
- more high-end customers may move to alternative investments. Article