Stifel entices away $250M team from Wells Fargo’s FiNet

A team managing $250 million in client assets left Wells Fargo FiNet for Stifel’s employee channel, a spokesman confirmed.

Advisers Henry Berg and Glen Magloff opened a new office for Stifel in Jacksonville, Fla., making it the firm’s 20th office in the state.

It was an unusual move as advisers typically leave employee broker-dealers for the independent space, not the reverse.

Read more: Independent No More: Why These Advisors Switched

Stifel has been aggressively recruiting both employee and independent advisers. Last year Stifel significantly expanded its IBD through its acquisition of Sterne Agee, a Birmingham, Ala.-based brokerage with approximately 700 independent and employee advisers. Stifel’s independent adviser ranks grew to 688 for the recent quarter, up from 134 for the same period a year ago, the firm recently reported. Employee adviser ranks rose to 2,161 from 1,963.

Stifel’s newest advisers are both industry veterans. Berg began his career at Merrill Lynch in 1989, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. In 1993, he joined Smith Barney.

Magloff also started his career at Merrill in 1998, and moved to Smith Barney in 2000. The two advisers stayed through that firm’s merger with Morgan Stanley, and then left the wirehouse for Wells Fargo’s independent broker-dealer in 2010.

Magloff says they moved to Stifel because the firm had a similar philosophy about how best to serve clients.

A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo declined to comment.