Raymond James pulls from Merrill, Wells Fargo from UBS: Advisor moves

December 20, 2024 3:16 PM

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Even with the holidays fast approaching, wealth management firms were still busy recruiting advisory teams and promoting from within their ranks.

Raymond James, Wells Fargo and Commonwealth all had big recruitment deals this week. And Cetera and LPL Financial looked inward for executive talent.

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Raymond James recruits teams managing over $995M

Raymond James has pulled over a team of advisors previously at Merrill to its offices in Cleveland.

Adam Ours, John Koch and Padma Jambunath had formerly managed roughly $995 million in client assets. They're joining Raymond James' channel for direct employees — Raymond James & Associates — and will become part of the firm's Cleveland Beachwood branch.

They'll work with business owners, corporate executives, families and individual clients, retirees and family offices.

Ours has more than 20 years of industry experience, having begun his career at Northwestern Mutual Investments in 2003. He was at Merrill for 18 years.

Koch started his career in 1993 at Lehman Brothers and was at Merrill Lynch for more than 15 years, working as a senior vice president, advisor, office director and sales manager.

Jambunath was born and raised in India and has worked throughout Asia and Europe. She moved to the U.S. in 2009 and was at Merrill for seven years.

Raymond James reported having 8,787 advisors at the end of its most recent quarter.

Wells Fargo recruits teams managing $624M from UBS

Wells Fargo has pulled over a pair of advisor teams formerly with UBS in Paramus, New Jersey.

Stephen Laddy and John Serocke were part of a team at UBS called Axis Wealth Partners, where they had $354 million under management. Their new team at Wells Fargo is called Bergen County Wealth Management.

Separately, Thomas Bishop, his son, Kevin, and a client associate also joined Wells Fargo from UBS. Bishop had more than $270 million under management. The moves were first reported by AdvisorHub.

Wells Fargo has roughly 12,000 advisors.

Commonwealth brings over teams managing $495M from Osaic

Commonwealth Financial Network is adding to its presence in New York State with two advisory teams formerly housed at its industry rival Osaic.

Commonwealth, the seventh largest independent broker-dealer by revenue in Financial Planning's IBD Elite ranking this year, announced this week that it had brought over Full Spectrum Financial Solutions and NXT Phase Financial Services, a pair of advisory firms sharing an office in Jericho, New York. The two were both formally affiliated with Securities America, one among eight brokerage firms now being integrated under the Osaic brand.

Full Spectrum manages $329 million in client assets and is led by financial advisors Christopher Jones and Paul Michaluk. NXT Phase Financial Services has $166 million under management and its advisors include John Carbonara and Michael Murray.

Both firms were founded in the 1990s and worked together on the move to Commonwealth.

LPL recruits advisor managing $300M

LPL Financial has reeled in an advisor formerly with the financial services firm D.A. Davidson.

LPL is bringing over Jeffrey Grange to a new office in Santa Barbara, California. Grange will be affiliated with the firm's Linsco channel, which is for direct employees.

Grange had formerly managed roughly $300 million at D.A. Davidson.

Before entering financial services, Grange worked as a college coach and professional sailor, winning national titles and a world championship in sailing. He started at Smith Barney in 2005 and followed the firm when it was partly sold to Morgan Stanley in 2009. He joined D.A. Davidson in 2013.

LPL had 23,686 advisors at the end of the third quarter.

Corient acquires RIA with $7.9B under management

Corient is extending its presence in the northeast U.S. with its purchase of H.M. Payson, an RIA with $7.9 billion in assets under management.

H.M. Payson, or HMP, was founded in 1854 and has its headquarters in Portland, Maine. Its purchase is the first by Corient in Maine.

HMP specializes in working with high net worth individuals and families and offers investment management, financial and estate planning and trust and fiduciary services, among other things. It also manages roughly $1.2 billion as an official Maine chartered trust company.

Corient is a subsidiary of Toronto-based CI Financial, a global firm with roughly $377.3 billion under management. CI Financial was taken private in November by Mubadala Capital, the private equity arm of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, in a deal valuing it at about $12.1 billion. Corient is now managing roughly $184 billion for wealthy clients, families and businesses throughout the U.S.

Exec moves: Cetera names new president of wealth management

Cetera Financial Group is looking inward for the next head of its wealth management division.

The firm announced this week that Todd Mackay has been tapped to take over as president of wealth management from Tom Taylor, who plans to retire by the end of the year. Mackay joined Cetera through its purchase of the tax specialist firm Avantax in late 2023 and was named president of Cetera Solutions in August.

Mackay will continue to report to Cetera Holdings CEO Mike Durbin. Durbin himself is set to also take on the CEO title for Cetera Financial Group when current chief executive Adam Antoniades retires next year.

Taking Mackay's former responsibilities will be Christian Mitchell, an executive vice president and chief digital and information officer at Northwestern Mutual. He will be in charge of Cetera's digital products, systems and investment offerings.

Cetera is an independent broker-dealer with 12,000 advisors and $235 billion in assets under management. It has been majority owned by San Francisco-based private equity firm Genstar Capital since 2018. In Financial Planning's latest ranking of the biggest independent broker-dealers by revenue, Cetera came in at the No. 4 spot.

Exec moves: LPL names new managing director

LPL Financial has appointed Marc Cohen as its new managing director for business strategy and innovation.

Cohen, who has been with LPL since 2018, is now an executive vice president and head of corporate strategy. His promotion comes after Rich Steinmeier went from being managing director and chief growth officer to become LPL CEO following the abrupt ouster of Dan Arnold over allegations that he had failed to maintain a respectful workplace. Arnold was fired for cause in October and has since received a $12 million settlement deal from LPL.

Cohen came to LPL to help develop new ways for advisors to affiliate themselves with the firm and help recruit teams from wirehouses and RIAs. He has since worked to make sure the firm can support advisors throughout their careers, including through succession planning.

His new role will have him working on affiliation options for independent advisors, large enterprises and institutional channels. He has also joined the LPL financial management committee.