JPMorgan Loses Former First Republic Groups to Residents, Merrill Lynch

J.P. Morgan is shedding two multi-billion groups acquired within the agency’s buy of First Republic following final 12 months’s regional financial institution disaster.

Merrill Lynch is recruiting a 12-person Florida staff from JP Morgan Wealth Administration that manages $3.5 billion in shopper belongings, whereas Residents Financial institution introduced it was buying a equally sized staff with greater than $5 billion AUM based mostly out of San Francisco, additionally from JP Morgan. 

Associated: Transfer to JPMorgan Is Full Circle for Many First Republic Advisors

The San Francisco staff contains senior managing administrators Rick Gordon and Hugh Beecher, in addition to managing director Andrew Curto. Beecher and Gordon joined First Republic in 2015. Beecher had a multi-decade tenure within the trade, together with stints at Goldman Sachs and Credit score Suisse, whereas Gordon labored at Barclays and briefly at Lehman Brothers, in response to their BrokerCheck profiles.

Final 12 months, the collapse of Silicon Valley Financial institution started toppling dominoes all through the banking trade, together with First Republic. The latter financial institution was the second-largest financial institution failure in U.S. historical past and the fourth regional financial institution to break down since SVB’s downfall in March. 

Associated: The Diamond Podcast for Monetary Advisors: Former First Republic Head Launches RIA with Backing from Summit Companions

Regulators briefly seized the flatlining First Republic earlier than JP Morgan stepped in, buying about $173 billion of First Republic’s loans, $30 billion of securities and $92 billion in deposits. 

It was a full-circle transfer for a lot of advisors who’d begun their careers in huge brokerages earlier than arriving at First Republic solely to search out themselves again within the partitions of a wirehouse (a 2023 WealthManagement.com evaluation discovered 69% of First Republic advisors joined from a wirehouse or massive agency, together with Ameriprise, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Raymond James and Credit score Suisse, amongst others).

The acquisition additionally follows information this week that trade veteran Paul Casey would be part of Residents from Morgan Stanley to develop into the Head of Wealth Administration starting in July.

In the meantime, Merrill Lynch acquired the Florida staff led by Salvatore Tiano and John Smyth, that additionally included 4 wealth managers and 6 shopper associates. They’re becoming a member of Merrill’s Palm Seashore Gardens workplace, led by Regional Managing Director Josh Moody.  

A 16-hour drive up I-95, in Lewes, Del., a staff of 4 left Merrill Lynch for Janney Montgomery Scott, a hybrid RIA and dealer/seller overseeing round $138 billion in shopper belongings on the finish of 2023. 

Working as Shore to Shore Personal Wealth, the quartet is helmed by Government Vice President Michael Koppenhaver, manages $600 million in belongings and reported a trailing twelve-month revenue of greater than $3.7 million whereas at Merrill. 

Throughout a quarterly earnings name final week, Financial institution of America mentioned advisor attrition dropped at Merrill however didn’t provide a headcount. The corporate reported using 18,916 advisors on the finish of 2023, following a internet acquire of about 175.  

On the finish of the primary quarter, Merrill Lynch advisors had been overseeing roughly $3.3 trillion in shopper belongings, together with about $1.4 trillion underneath administration. That’s a rise of $300 billion and $100 billion, respectively, over the identical interval a 12 months in the past.