Merrill Lynch lost a $610-million team to RBC Wealth Management,
The Johnson Prince Group is comprised of Daniel Johnson, a senior vice president and financial advisor who has 21 years of industry experience, and John Prince, a senior vice president and financial advisor with 26 years of experience.
The duo joins the firm’s Century City branch in Southern California. They will be joined by senior registered client associate Kim Johnson (no relation to Daniel). The team will continue to serve high-net-worth clients.
Johnson and Prince were drawn to RBC for its boutique wealth management environment that is backed by the resources of one of the world’s largest banks, says Joseph Vanderdonck, the branch director who recruited the team. Johnson and Prince were not available to comment directly.
“That’s a unique combination in our industry,” Vanderdonck adds. “I think you compare that to many of our wirehouse competitors out there and it shows very differently. It’s very broker-friendly, very client focused and very supportive of people running their business in the fashion that they think best for their own clients.”
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The wirehouse has lost a steady stream of brokers over the past year and a half.
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The group is the latest in a long string of wirehouse departures.
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The move occurred just days before UBS said it would exit the Broker Protocol.
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Indeed, advisors that have left wirehouses have cited the management style of the large banks as a key reason to head for the door. In addition to RBC, Merrill Lynch has recently lost advisors to
“One of the reasons I think [Johnson and Prince] were attracted to us is our relationship with City National Bank,” says Michael Melton, RBC’s Southern California complex director. “It offers a kind of deeper and broader capability across all lines both in wealth management as well as providing banking services.”
