By Andrew Welsch, OnWallStreet – Steward Partners hired a former Merrill Lynch team managing $160 million in client assets, the firm said. It’s the latest in a string of hires for the independent firm, which was founded by former wirehouse managers in 2013 and is affiliated with Raymond James. So far this year, Steward Partners has recruited 19 advisors and opened six offices. The Washington, D.C.-based firm now has more than 100 advisors operating from 21 locations.
By Alex Padalka, Financial Advisor IQ – An experienced UBS financial advisor has left the firm to form a new wealth management practice. Anne Johnston has launched Los Angeles-based Created Wealth Advisory to serve multi-generational families, creative professionals and baby boomer women, according to a press release from the company.
By Ian Wenik, Citywire – The $13 billion hybrid RIA has hired Kevin Taube away from the wirehouse to work in its Manchester, N.H. office. Taube had worked for Merrill Lynch since 2006, running a practice that he estimated to be 99% fee-based.
By Andrew Welsch, OnWallStreet – Of 37 advisors RBC hired since Aug. 1, two dozen came from Merrill Lynch, according to the regional BD’s hiring announcements. Those former Merrill advisors, some of whom are industry veterans, managed $2.9 billion, RBC said.
By Alex Padalka, Financial Advisor IQ – RBC made a string of new advisor hires from rivals last week, but the firm must also pay close to $3 million over alleged failures in sending out fund prospectuses. In Scottsdale, Ariz., meanwhile, RBC has added Bill Herf, a 22-year veteran of the industry, the company says in a separate press release. Herf previously managed around $230 million for 150 families and foundations at Stifel Nicolaus, Stifel Financial’s broker-dealer subsidiary, RBC says.
By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning – A financial advisor who bolted from JPMorgan Chase Bank says many in the bank channel hesitate to go independent from their longtime branches and well-known brands.
By Vicky Ge Huang, AdvisorHub – Morgan Stanley has reached into rival UBS Wealth Management’s talent base, hiring a duo in Houston for its private wealth unit and a broker in Long Island managing $215 million. The team of Jeff Parker and Rafael Herrera, who spent their entire two-decade brokerage careers with UBS and predecessor PaineWebber, left Friday for the elite private wealth unit of Morgan Stanley that houses about 250 teams serving very wealthy investors.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – by Mason Braswell, AdvisorHub – A team of Goldman Sachs brokers in Seattle with $10 million in production have joined Morgan Stanley’s private wealth group, a sign of wirehouses’ willingness to selectively hire mega-producers even as they tighten their operational belts. David Midgley, who was responsible for about 90% of his three-advisor team’s revenue in the past 12 months, arrived at the wirehouse two weeks ago. He had been with Goldman since 2005, according to his BrokerCheck history.
