Bryn Mawr Capital Management has acquired Bell Rock Capital, a Rehoboth Beach, Delaware-based investment advisory firm, in a deal that expands Bryn Mawr's reach in southern Delaware and South Florida.
Bryn Mawr, the wealth management subsidiary of the $20.4 billion-asset WSFS Financial, is adding six wealth professionals as a result of the transaction, including Jackie Reeves, a retirement plan specialist, who will lead a new office in Boca Raton, Florida. Though Reed will work alone to start, Bryn Mawr will explore growth options, spokesman Eric Springer stated Tuesday in an email.
"We are a growing organization and will continue to evaluate and invest in talent that allows us to best serve clients' needs and our growth in the market," Springer wrote. WSFS reported assets under management totaling $68 billion on June 30.
The acquisition, which was announced Tuesday, comes 17 months after Cassandra Toroian, Bell Rock Capital's founder and owner, was accused of so-called cherry-picking by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In a February 2022 complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, SEC attorneys claimed Toroian executed trades from Bell Rock's master trading account, allocating the most profitable transactions to her personal accounts. Less successful trades were assigned to clients. Toroian, who is not joining WSFS, is contesting the charges. The two sides are scheduled to begin discovery later this month.
Springer characterized the case as a matter between Toroian and the SEC. "It would be inappropriate for us to comment," he stated. "We and our advisors conducted a comprehensive due diligence process in our evaluation of growth potential to make sure the opportunity was in the best interest of our company, associates, clients and shareholders," Springer added.
WSFS, which has identified growing its wealth management business as a priority, said acquiring Bell Rock Capital would be immediately accretive to earnings per share and return on assets, though it did not disclose deal terms.
The Wilmington, Delaware-based WSFS is hardly the only community or regional bank
Wealth management accounted for just under half of WSFS' second-quarter fee income, which totaled $67.4 million. Wealth management also helped drive quarterly deposit growth, totaling $380 million, WSFS reported, Chief Financial Officer Dominic Canuso said on a July 25 conference call with investor analysts.
Bell Rock reported equity holdings totaling $80.6 million, according to an October 2022 13F filing with the SEC. That is down from $136 million, according to a report filed in February 2022, just before the SEC suit was unveiled.
"This acquisition bolsters our wealth management capabilities and expands our reach to better serve diverse Clients across multiple regions," Arthur Bacci, chief wealth officer at WSFS, said of the Bell Rock Capital deal Monday in a press release.
