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The Merrill Accolades American Express Card, previously known as the Bank of America Accolades Card, was the first premium credit card offered by Bank of America. It is targeted exclusively at the bank's "affluent, wealthy and ultra- wealthy clients served through Premier Banking & Investments, The Private Bank of Bank of America and its extension, Family Wealth Advisors." 〔(Payments News: Bank of America's Accolades American Express Card – June 11, 2007 )〕 The card is notable as it is the bank's foray into a new market segment as well as a product offered as a result of the bank's acquisition of another bank, U.S. Trust, particularly since the larger Bank of America has taken the smaller bank’s corporate name in establishing a separate legal entity for the first time in history. The entity’s name is U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.〔(Bank of America tries to burnish its image as it caters to the very rich – International Herald Tribune )〕 This card, also called the Bank of America Accolades Card or the Bank of America Accolades American Express Card, is a co-branded card that is accepted by merchants who accept the American Express card. == History == The introduction of the card coincides with Bank of America’s acquisition of U.S. Trust, a private bank that caters to those with extremely high assets and income. Traditionally, this banking sector has been dominated by JPMorgan and the large brokerage firm, Morgan Stanley, as well as Citicorp and Goldman Sachs.〔 With the acquisition, the private banking unit of Bank of America will be the largest in the world. 〔 The Accolades card is seen as a tool to enter this market segment.〔 The Wall Street Journal has reported that "the bank has struggled to prove it can cater to wealthy clients with the personalized service offered by some rivals.” “The bank says the Accolades card is its first designed solely for clients of its wealth unit.” 〔More Banks Go Black with American Express Cards for Wealthy, Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2007, p. C3〕 The program is now being managed by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management as part of the Bank of America Corporation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Accolades Card」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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