Merrill Nabs 10 Advisors Managing $1.07B

Merrill Lynch has hired 10 financial advisors from rival wirehouse firms who managed a total of $1.07 billion in assets and had $7.7 million in fees and commissions.

The majority of those hires, which were completed in the past several weeks, come from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, representing six of the new hires. Merrill Lynch also hired a three-member advisor team from UBS and one advisor from Wells Fargo to round out the 10 additions to its force.

The hires from Morgan Stanley include Jeffrey Wells in Mill Valley, Calif., Keith Ward in Greenwich, Conn., John Forster in Washington, D.C., Raymond Abbate in Red Bank, N.J., and father-son team Bob Reinert and Craig Reinert in Red Bank, N.J.

Wells comes to Merrill Lynch after having $264 million in client assets under management and $1.5 million in fees and commissions. He came to Morgan Stanley in 2009, and had been with Citigroup before that since 2003, according to his public registration records with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Ward previously oversaw $136.3 million in client assets and had $1.58 million in production. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2008 following about six years at UBS, his FINRA registration records show.

Forster had $110.2 million in client assets under management and $500,000 in fees and commissions. He became a member of Morgan Stanley’s force in 2009, FINRA records show, following 16 years at Citigroup.

Abbate had $102 million in client assets under management and $408,000 in production. He also came to Morgan Stanley’s force in 2009 following 16 years at Citigroup, according to his public registration records.

Bob and Craig Reinert had a combined $92 million in assets under management and $526,000 in fees and commissions. Bob Reinert, Craig’s father, had been with Morgan Stanley since 2009 following 16 years at Citigroup. Craig Reinert also joined Morgan Stanley at the same time after serving at Citigroup for about one year.

The three-member team coming from UBS includes Charles Mercer, Marguerite Rowland and Dowell Ryan, who are based in Louisville, Ky. Together, they previously had $265.3 million in client assets under management and $2.4 million in production.

Mercer served at UBS for about five years following a stint of more than six years at Morgan Keegan, his FINRA registration records show. Rowland was with UBS for more than eight years, following nine years at Banc One Securities. For Ryan, the new position is a return to Merrill Lynch, having served at the firm for almost 10 years, followed by more than 11 years at UBS.

Also moving over from Wells Fargo is Terry Schurman, who is located in Ponte Vedra, Fla. Schurman previously oversaw $101.9 million in client assets and had $813,000 in production. Schurman spent 12 years at Wells Fargo, according to his registration records, following stints of about two years at First Union and three years at Merrill Lynch.

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