By Tatiana Bautzer NEW YORK (Reuters) -Merrill Wealth Management is creating a new division to expand credit offerings to its wealthier clients, taking advantage of the growing demand for such products among the super rich, senior executives said on Wednesday. The group will begin with around 20 bankers, but may expand over time. Bank of America's wealth management businesses, which include Merrill and BofA's private bank, registered a $16 billion increase in client loans to $241 billion in the second quarter from a year earlier. Wealthy clients with dozens of millions invested at Merrill Lynch demand credit for different reasons than regular retail customers. The most common are to avoid large tax liabilities that would be created when cashing out on long-term investments, pay other taxes without divestitures, potential losses on sales of illiquid assets or the desire to keep investing in stocks as market indexes reach all-time highs.