RBC welcomes $1.37B wealth management team from Merrill

A team managing $1.37 billion has jumped from Merrill Lynch to RBC Wealth Management.

The Royal Bank of Canada's U.S. wealth management unit announced on Thursday the nine-person team led by Jeremy Ruccio, a private wealth advisor with 15 years of industry experience, had moved over to its Miami offices.

RBC said in a press release that the group specializes in working with ultrahigh net worth clients, including real estate investors, private equity partners and CEOs. The services it offers include lending, asset preservation and wealth management.

The team will be under Ken Ross, the Florida Complex manager at RBC. Ruccio was named as one of Financial Planning's Top 40 Brokers Under 40 in February 2022. 

"At RBC Wealth Management, our team will be able to combine the personalized attention and feel of a smaller firm with the power and insights of a global financial institution, enabling us to create goals-based financial strategies tailored to our clients' unique situations," Ruccio said.

A spokesperson for Merrill Lynch, which is owned by Bank of America, declined to comment.

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Besides Ruccio, the team consists of: Tristan Lambert, first vice president and a private wealth advisor; Bita Asgari, a vice president and a private wealth advisor; Lizbeth Sain, a senior registered client associate; Melissa Montoya, a senior registered client associate with 11 years; Jenifer Quiles, a client associate; Maria Ramos-Barcia, a client associate; Yohan Garciga, a client associate; and Paul Alva, a client associate.

Merrill has seen a steady outflow of advisors in recent years but still has kept its headcount up. For the third quarter, Merrill reported having 19,130 financial advisors across all its channels, a figure up 1.5% year over year.