As wealth management firms eye snapping up advisors and brokers from imploded Silicon Valley Bank, two key questions are emerging. Where will those employees land? And has the sudden implosion of the $209 billion institution created a toxic cloud over their job prospects?
In recent days, recruiters and advisory firms from coast to coast have put out feelers gauging if employees at SVB Wealth, the bank's $16 billion wealth management unit, want to plant roots elsewhere. Independent Advisor Alliance, a business consulting and support network in Charlotte, North Carolina, for independent wealth managers, made a direct pitch on Thursday.
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Patrick Dwyer, a former wealth manager at Boston Private Bank, which Silicon Valley Bank's parent company bought more than two years ago, is also scouring for defectors. Dwyer, who left Boston Private in November 2021, less than a year after the acquisition, said his current firm NewEdge Wealth in Miami had reached out to a small group of SVB Wealth advisors, with a focus on hiring "a few of their top folks."
Once a darling of high net worth investors, technology start-ups and companies including Roku and Etsy, Silicon Valley Bank's implosion on March 10 triggered a chain of upheavals that have rattled global markets. Signature Bank, a $110 billion institution in New York, fell into receivership last Sunday, two days after regulators took over Santa Clara, California-based SVB Financial, Silicon Bank's parent company. On Thursday,
Another aftershock of SVB's collapse: bank advisors wondering who they'll work for going forward.
Hire me
Dwyer said representatives of Cerity Partners, a $66 billion registered investment advisor in New York, and FL Putnam Investment Management, an RIA in Wellesley, Massachusetts with $6.2 billion under advisement, were recruiting SVB prospects. Cerity Partners did not immediately return requests for comment and an FL Putnam representative declined to comment.
For SVB's wealth planners, the broad crisis is both a chance to become a fish that jumps from a broken tank into fresh waters — and an ocean of stress.
"I'm not one for posting, but I need your help," Jonathan Nass, the head of treasury liquidity risk management at Silicon Valley Bank,
"If you had asked me on Monday, where I saw myself on Friday, the last place would be writing this post." Nass continued, "While we wait to understand exactly what the future means for each of us, some of our team members have critical personal situations including impacts to immigration visa status."
Jason Carone, a former product management director at the bank, wrote in a
Johnathon Broekhuizen, an information technology professional in Boston whose recent SVB job offer bellied up,
The dance
Andrew Graham, the managing partner at San Francisco-based wealth manager Jackson Square Capital, said SVB Wealth advisors with client assets custodied at places like Fidelity Investments and Schwab will find it easier to move as a team if they choose.
It's a delicate tango: Customers spooked by the collapse might find it easier to ditch their SBV advisor and instead switch to another at a different firm that also uses Fidelity or Schwab.
Federal regulators tried to auction off SVB Financial in one fell swoop last weekend, but no buyers emerged.
"It's a question of will they be trying to go one at a time, versus lock and stock and taking all the advisors in one piece," Graham said.
John Farnham, a business development officer at the Independent Advisor Alliance, said he and colleagues had not heard from SVB employees eager to take up their offer.
That may signal advisors are waiting to see if a buyer will snap up the entire bank, which includes SVB Asset Management and SVB Wealth, both SEC-registered investment advisors, along with bank and broker-dealer SVB Investment Services, which also functions as an RIA. The parent company also includes an investment bank, SVB Securities.
Image and reputation
Cara Stewart, the founder and CEO of Altalunas, a public relations and crisis communications firm in Santa Ana, California, also reached out to SVB employees on LinkedIn on Thursday, offering to help with crisis communications and crisis management. She said in an interview that she's only talked to business clients of the bank who are rushing to reassure their own investors and business partners they are fiscally sound.
Stewart added that SVB advisors anxious their reputations might be tarnished should take charge by going online.
"LinkedIn is a great place to showcase their values and their accomplishments both within SVB and outside that ecosystem," she said. "It's also a great time to get things like testimonials and show community investment or higher level industry involvement that showcases their knowledge as a wealth manager."
Perhaps most importantly, Stewart added, "You can't deny the power of personal connections" — of "actually picking up the phone and reaching out in one's network to have an off-the-record conversation to assuage any fears."
