Bank of America Corp on Monday said that it has named Stuart Hendel, the global head of the prime brokerage business at rival Swiss bank UBS AG , as head of its own global prime brokerage division.

Hendel, is expected to join the bank in June in New York and will report to the firm's co-heads of global equities, Tom Patrick and Mike Stewart, the bank said.

The prime brokerage business, which works with hedge funds to lend money and clear trades, has been extremely competitive in the past few years, with both UBS and Bank of America working hard to take market share from firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley , which have dominated the business for years.

Hendel had joined UBS from Morgan Stanley in 2009.

UBS declined to comment on Hendel's move. Two other UBS prime brokerage executives who had worked for Hendel, Jonathan Yalmokas and Charlotte Burkeman, also quit on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, has been trying to aggressively boost its presence in the prime brokerage business over the past year, adding clients more rapidly than most competitors, according to industry surveys.

Prime brokers say their business has become more profitable over the past year as hedge funds borrow more money to put leverage on trades.

Bank of America's prime brokerage business stems from its acquisition of Merrill Lynch in 2008, having sold its original business to BNP Paribas SA earlier that year.

(Reporting by Emily Chasan; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Bernard Orr)

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