James M Stapleton

You pay us an IA Program fee that covers investment advisory services, trade execution and custody at Merrill. The IA Program fee is based on the value of the assets in your account and the fee rates listed below:

• IAP: If you work with an Advisor, the Merrill fee rate you agree to with your Advisor (max 1.75%) or, if you work with an MFSA, the set Merrill fee rate (max 1.10%). If you select a managed strategy, your IAP fee will include a strategy manager fee based on the rate set by the manager, which is paid to them.

• SPA: The SPA rate you agree to with your Advisor (max 1.50%) for Merrill services. You will also pay a SPA manager fee based on the rate set by the manager, which is paid to them.

• MAS: The MAS rate you agree to with your Advisor (max 1.80%) for Merrill services. You will also pay a MAS manager fee based on the rate set by the manager, which is paid to them.

• MGI with Advisor and MEAA: 0.85%.

• MGI: 0.45%.

• IIC: The rate you agree to with your Advisor (max 0.45%).

• The Merrill fee component of the IA Program fee for IAP, SPA, MAS and IIC are negotiable. Depending on the IA Program, the fee is paid monthly or quarterly. The relevant IA Program brochure provides more detail about the fees and costs you may incur.

The more assets there are in your IA Program-enrolled account, the more you will pay in fees, giving us a financial incentive to encourage you to increase the assets in your account.

ADDITIONAL FEE INFORMATION

Advisors and MFSAs may discount or waive certain brokerage fees based on our discount or waiver requirements. FSAs are not permitted to discount or waive fees. You may qualify for a discount or waiver according to applicable reward and rebate programs.

Certain products have built-in fees and expenses (described in their offering materials) that the product manager or sponsor charges for services, portions of which may be paid to us.

You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you’re paying.

When we provide you with a recommendation as your broker-dealer or act as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the ways we and our affiliates make money create some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the recommendations and investment advice we provide you. Here are some examples of conflicts to help you understand what this means:

• Affiliate benefits. Our affiliates receive compensation and/or economic benefits in connection with certain of the services provided and certain investment products that we recommend or make available to you.

• Third-party payments for services. We receive compensation from certain product sponsors for the sub-accounting and shareholder services we provide them. We also have agreements with certain product sponsors to pay us marketing support and other revenue sharing payments under certain circumstances. Certain product sponsors participate in financial advisor and client conferences, meetings and events and pay for the eligible expenses related to these events, including costs for those financial professionals attending.

• Principal trading. Some of your securities transactions will be executed with our affiliate BofAS. It makes money when executing your securities transactions as well as when acting as an underwriter for new issue offerings of securities offerings for corporate issuers.

For more conflict information, please review our Best Interest Disclosure Statement and/or our IA Program brochures by clicking the highlighted links in this CRS.

Our financial professionals are compensated based on their offering of brokerage services and transactions in investment products, providing IA Program services and making referrals to Affiliates. Compensation payments present a conflict of interest. For brokerage services, the conflict arises based on the type and frequency of transactions in your Account. For IA Programs, the conflict arises based on the compensation we make due to your enrollment in a fee-based program and the fee that you agree to or are charged.

INVESTMENT ADVISORY COMPENSATION

For providing investment advisory services, Advisors are primarily compensated based on the IA Program fee charged for the account. MFSAs and FSAs receive compensation in the form of salary and performance-based incentive compensation.

OTHER COMPENSATION INFORMATION

Advisors and MFSAs receive incentive and strategic growth awards for asset gathering efforts, for growth in banking, lending and IA Program services and meeting performance goals during the year. They can also qualify for referral payments for the referrals of certain business to Merrill affiliates. FSAs receive incentive compensation based on meeting performance-based goals and for referrals.

Advisors who join Merrill from other firms receive additional payments in connection with that move, and the amounts paid are generally based to a large extent on the size of the business at their prior firm and on assets that transfer including from the Advisor’s prior firm.

You will pay a fee for each transaction in a brokerage account. The types of fees you pay are known as commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs or sales charges. These fees can be a direct payment from you. For certain investment products, the product sponsor or the manager will pay the fees and costs to us based on the value of your investment.

Brokerage transaction fees vary from product to product. The Best Interest Disclosure Statement includes an overview of brokerage fees and other account charges. Fee information is also covered in the materials listed under the Additional Information heading below. See merrilledge.com/pricing for MESD fees.

The trade confirmation you receive will provide the amount of the fees charged for the transaction. The offering materials available for certain types of investment products provide information about the fees and costs of those products.

The more trades that you make in your brokerage account, the more we and/or your financial advisor get paid, giving us a financial incentive to encourage transactions in your account.

ADDITIONAL FEE INFORMATION

Advisors and MFSAs may discount or waive certain brokerage fees based on our discount or waiver requirements. FSAs are not permitted to discount or waive fees. You may qualify for a discount or waiver according to applicable reward and rebate programs.

Certain products have built-in fees and expenses (described in their offering materials) that the product manager or sponsor charges for services, portions of which may be paid to us.

You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you’re paying.

When we provide you with a recommendation as your broker-dealer or act as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the ways we and our affiliates make money create some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the recommendations and investment advice we provide you. Here are some examples of conflicts to help you understand what this means:

• Affiliate benefits. Our affiliates receive compensation and/or economic benefits in connection with certain of the services provided and certain investment products that we recommend or make available to you.

• Third-party payments for services. We receive compensation from certain product sponsors for the sub-accounting and shareholder services we provide them. We also have agreements with certain product sponsors to pay us marketing support and other revenue sharing payments under certain circumstances. Certain product sponsors participate in financial advisor and client conferences, meetings and events and pay for the eligible expenses related to these events, including costs for those financial professionals attending.

• Principal trading. Some of your securities transactions will be executed with our affiliate BofAS. It makes money when executing your securities transactions as well as when acting as an underwriter for new issue offerings of securities offerings for corporate issuers.

For more conflict information, please review our Best Interest Disclosure Statement and/or our IA Program brochures by clicking the highlighted links in this CRS.

Our financial professionals are compensated based on their offering of brokerage services and transactions in investment products, providing IA Program services and making referrals to Affiliates. Compensation payments present a conflict of interest. For brokerage services, the conflict arises based on the type and frequency of transactions in your Account. For IA Programs, the conflict arises based on the compensation we make due to your enrollment in a fee-based program and the fee that you agree to or are charged.

BROKERAGE COMPENSATION

For brokerage services, Advisors are primarily compensated based on commissions and other types of transaction fees and service charges related to transactions in your brokerage account. Advisor compensation is based on what we charge you for executing your trade and what we receive from product sponsors for the sale of their products, where applicable. Certain products have higher transaction fees and service charges than other products. An Advisor will receive more compensation for selling certain products over other products and this is a conflict of interest.

MFSAs and FSAs who provide brokerage services are compensated through a salary and performance-based incentive compensation.

OTHER COMPENSATION INFORMATION

Advisors and MFSAs receive incentive and strategic growth awards for asset gathering efforts, for growth in banking, lending and IA Program services and meeting performance goals during the year. They can also qualify for referral payments for the referrals of certain business to Merrill affiliates. FSAs receive incentive compensation based on meeting performance-based goals and for referrals.

Advisors who join Merrill from other firms receive additional payments in connection with that move, and the amounts paid are generally based to a large extent on the size of the business at their prior firm and on assets that transfer including from the Advisor’s prior firm.