March 31, 2021
By Mason Braswell
Merrill Lynch has lost two top-ranked brokers in metropolitan New York City, extending a round of recent departures.
In the other move of a Forbes-ranked Merrill broker, Robert A. Bezzone has joined Transcend Wealth Collective, a New Jersey RIA co-founded in 2019 by an ex-Merrill complex manager.
Bezzone, who Forbes ranks as #106 in New York with $192 million in client assets, moved to the Short Hills, N.J. firm on March 22, according to BrokerCheck.
Transcend was in 2019 by James P. Hughes, a 21-year Merrill veteran, and a $4 million team of UBS advisors, with backing from former New York Stock Exchange Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer and Blackstone leveraged debt trader James Didden.
The RIA in September with the hire of a Merrill team managing $350 million in assets. Transcend manages $2.1 billion in 2,609 accounts, according to its ADV.
