Head of Global Research and head of Global Banking and Markets Financial Technology Investments, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
As somebody whose job is to help both Bank of America Merrill Lynch and its global roster of clients see into an uncertain future, Candace Browning expects two big things from her team: to be optimistic and to embrace change “enthusiastically.”
“As a leader, my role is to motivate, inspire, empower and encourage my team’s primary resource — the unlimited, creative human potential to find better ways. There is no room for a negative outlook,” said Browning, the head of global research and the strategist behind the company’s global banking and markets financial technology investments.
Over the past year, that insistence on moving confidently toward the future has paid off handsomely. The global research division saw a years-long effort to leverage its primary research with big data and predictive analytics result in a nearly 700% increase in the number of reports it was able to publish.
One of those reports, titled “Alexa, what are the top 5 cities for Amazon’s HQ2?” used proprietary predictive models to cull 20 contenders for the tech giant’s second headquarters down to the five likeliest candidates. The report earned four times the typical readership of other research publications.
Browning oversaw the division’s qualification as a Registered Investment Advisor — a critical transition that allowed the research division to continue providing its products to clients while remaining in compliance with the European Union’s new Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II.
She also took the lead on a lobbying effort that persuaded Congress to change federal restrictions on broker-dealers providing research coverage of exchange-traded funds. The new law took effect this year, allowing BofA Merrill to provide client with intelligence on that booming market.
Browning seems to delight in pulling colleagues into the future — ready or not. “Change is something we often fear,” she said, “but if we focus optimistically on the opportunity instead of getting distracted by all the uncertainties, we can excel."
