MBL, the initials for McColl Brothers Lockwood was established by Hugh L. McColl, Jr after he retired as Chairman and CEO of Bank of America as the family office for the McColl and Lockwood families.  The firm has a long history that predates the MBL Advisors name.  Originally incorporated in 1985, the firm began as a boutique regional insurance advisory firm, focused on providing sophisticated insurance solutions to its high net worth clients. The firm quickly expanded its service to include specialized design, implementation and administration of executive benefit programs.

The firm joined the M Financial Group in 1987. This Strategic Partnership provides our clients access to innovative ideas, products and services for the unique needs of the high net worth and institutional clients. The firm enjoyed a period of steady growth through the 1990s.  In 1996, Luther Lockwood moved from Atlanta to Charlotte to merge his practice with the firm joining six existing partners.  The firm established a national joint venture with JP Morgan to leverage our skill set with the bank’s clients.  Ultimately, a decision was made to sell the business to Wachovia Bank in 1999.

The firm evolved through almost a decade of ownership by the bank, the merger with First Union, the stock market bubble, changes to the taxation of split dollar plans, repeal of the estate tax and during the bottom of the Great Recession, an opportunity to regain independence as a boutique firm once again.

In 2009, the firm was acquired from Wachovia/Wells Fargo due to a change of control provision in the original sales agreement and the name was changed to MBL Advisors to reflect new ownership.  The firm relocated to the top of the Bank of America Corporate Center and shared offices with McColl Partners, a mergers and acquisition advisory business.  In 2012, to meet the demands of our clients, the firm formally entered the wealth management business and moved to our own office space.

In our current ownership structure, we have the flexibility to work with our clients in designing and creating customized solutions for unique client needs.  We offer a boutique level of personalized service with resources typically only available from a large national firm.