Think your firm has recently landed a big recruiting deal? Maybe look at JPMorgan's $28 billion deal and think again.
JPMorgan announced on Friday that it had recruited the Los Angeles-based Gray-Polverini team, a five-member group that had formerly managed $28 billion and generated $10 million in annual revenue for Merrill. The team, led by Eric Gray and Lance Polverini, will join JPMorgan's wealth management unit and work primarily with wealthy clients and families.
The sky-high level of assets under management makes the deal easily the biggest in recent memory. It dwarfed, for instance, the largest recorded last year: RBC Wealth Management's recruitment of a team managing $5.5 billion from UBS.
Both Gray and Polverini have spent a good number of years at Merrill. Polverini, who has been in the industry for 16 years, started his career at Merrill in 2007. Gray, who has 31 years of experience, moved to Merrill in 2000 after spending seven years at Goldman Sachs.
A spokesperson for Merrill did not immediately return a request for comment.
"We very much look forward to taking our practice to the next level, leveraging the extraordinary resources and expertise of J.P. Morgan on behalf of our clients," Gray said in a statement.
READ MORE:
JPMorgan asks federal court to intervene in fight with ex-First Republic advisors
FDIC backs JPMorgan in dispute with ex-First Republic advisors
More ex-First Republic advisors exit JPMorgan for smaller firms
Merrill leaps back into recruiting with $3.5B team from JPMorgan
JPMorgan's wealth profits fall 26% on high compensation expenses
JPMorgan said three other members of the Gray-Polverini team will be joining it from Merrill: Drew Sapede, an investment associate with 15 years of industry experience; Michelle Blackmer, a client associate of less than one year; and Irma Deluna, a client associate with 26 years.
"Their decision to join us is further confirmation that J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is the best place for the industry's top advisors to grow their business and for clients to grow their wealth," Phil Sieg, the CEO of J.P. Morgan Advisors, said in a statement.
The recruiting move comes as quite a feather in JPMorgan's cap as it seeks to build out its wealth management business. Like many financial services firms, JPMorgan is eyeing the steady fees generated by managing wealthy clients' assets as a way to keep revenue flowing regardless of how the banking industry is faring.
JPMorgan made its previous biggest splash in the wealth management world in May 2023 with its purchase of the former First Republic bank out of government receivership. That deal brought with it more than 200 advisors, dozens of whom left around the same time.
JPMorgan has since seen its advisor departures slow. On April 22, though, teams managing roughly $15 billion announced they were leaving JPMorgan for jobs at Merrill, Citizens Financial Group, Cresset and other firms. Most of the departing advisors had come to JPMorgan from First Republic.
