RBC hires $1B team as faltering First Republic bleeds advisors

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First Republic lost another big team of wealth advisors to a rival, after weeks of banking crisis turmoil that have already seen several high-profile advisors depart for competitors. 

RBC Wealth Management said Monday that it had landed a team of First Republic advisors managing around $1 billion of client assets in Newport Beach, California. 

The incoming team at RBC, the Todd Halbrook and Adam MacDonald Wealth Management Group, includes managing directors and financial advisors Todd Halbrook, Adam MacDonald and Vince Lovoy, as well as senior financial associate Christie Gregg and senior client associate Parker Howard. Halbrook is a certified financial planner and MacDonald is a chartered retirement planning counselor, according to an emailed press release. All of the team members were still registered with First Republic as of this writing, according to their BrokerCheck profiles. The team specializes in working with high net worth individuals, families and businesses. 

The latest departures follow weeks of similar moves by advisors at the troubled San Francisco-based bank, a major shift for a financial institution that until recently exerted a strong recruiting pull on star advisors to the ultrawealthy at firms like Merrill Wealth Management and Morgan Stanley. 

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last month, spooked depositors pulled tens of billions out of First Republic as its share price tanked, and pushed wealthy clients and advisors to consider leaving. 

Morgan Stanley, UBS and Rockefeller all scooped up First Republic talent in the weeks that followed, AdvisorHub reported, with the lion's share of assets so far going to Morgan Stanley — which won at least 14 advisors, who managed over $7 billion of AUM, in the tumult. Although some competitors reportedly planned to avoid stealing talent and business from First Republic and other troubled banks, the moves suggest that others are going in for the kill. 

With its move to join in the First Republic feast, regional firm RBC is also signaling its ambitions to grow in the U.S. wealth market and win more top producers. RBC Wealth Management has $510 billion in total client assets and over 2,100 advisors at the moment, it said in the release. Its parent company, Royal Bank of Canada, is the 10th largest bank in the world by market cap.  

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RBC is "proud to be the choice of some of the industry's top advisors amid ongoing market volatility," Tom Sagissor, President of RBC Wealth Management in the U.S., said in a statement.

The advisors said RBC's perceived financial stability was a top reason for the move. "We chose to move our business to RBC Wealth Management for its long-standing reputation of financial strength, integrity, and dedication to supporting advisors and clients," Halbrook said in a statement.

The team was known for its bespoke approach to planning, "understanding their clients' individual needs and developing custom strategies for their long-term financial goals," Michael Melton, Southern California Complex Director at RBC Wealth Management in the U.S., said in a statement. 

Halbrook, MacDonald, Lovoy and Gregg had all moved to First Republic from Wells Fargo in 2018, among dozens of top advisors and associates the bank had wooed from wirehouses in recent years with promises of big pay — reportedly as high as 400% of trailing 12-month revenue. Parker had joined First Republic in 2022 from Vanguard, according to his BrokerCheck. 

"Many advisors who move these days land at safe harbor firms whose financial stability enables them to retain and attract new client assets. That's especially the case after the recent bank failures," industry recruiter Mark Elzweig said.

In a form 8-K filed on Friday, First Republic said it would suspend payment of quarterly dividends on its preferred stock "as a measure of prudent oversight," the bank said in the filing. As of market close Monday, the stock is down nearly 94% down from its all-time high of $219.91 in 2021. 

The bank also delayed its first-quarter earnings announcement date, sharing on April 7 — when the markets were closed for Good Friday — that it would report results on April 24 after market close. By contrast, last year the bank put out a press release March 30 announcing earnings results would come out April 13 before the market open— making it among the first in the industry to report at that time. 

Reached for comment on the move, a spokesperson for First Republic said in an email: "First Republic Private Wealth Management remains fundamental to our overall strategy and long-term success. Our clients continue to appreciate the benefits of First Republic's integrated banking and wealth management model, our culture of extraordinary service, and the expertise provided by our talented teams."