Raymond James swoops in on Merrill team

Raymond James takes large chunk of Merrill team: Advisor Moves

Raymond James has swooped in to claim a large part of a Merrill team in Maryland.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo and Raymond James both pull advisors from Commonwealth Financial Network, which continues to struggle with defections amid its acquisition by LPL Financial. And Fifth Third Advisors, RBC and Raymond James all also scored big recruiting wins, while Cetera welcomed back an institutional client, and Elevation Point took a minority stake in UBS-breakaway firm.

Read about it below.

Large part of prominent Merrill team goes to Raymond James

Raymond James has picked up at least five members of the Thrush-Thrift Group, a team at Merrill in Maryland.

The advisors Garrett Thrift, Blake Saulsbury, Franklin "Wade" Oursler and Kara Burt have all left Merrill to join Raymond James, according to BrokerCheck and LinkedIn postings. Joining them is the client associate Blair Elizabeth Goodrich. Attempts to reach the departed team through LinkedIn were unsuccessful. The LinkedIn page for Oursler lists him as a financial advisor at Thrift Private Wealth of Raymond James.

The website for The Thrush-Thrift Group shows that managing director and senior financial advisor Kirk Thrush and wealth management client associate Ashley Wesolowski remain at Merrill. Raymond James declined to comment, and Merrill did not respond to a request for comment.

The team is joining Raymond James & Associates, the firm's channel for direct-employee advisors. Ron Edde, an industry recruiter and the founder of Millennium Career Advisors, said, "The employee channel at Raymond James continues to be a top target for experienced wirehouse advisors, especially from Merrill, UBS and, to a lesser extent, Morgan Stanley."

Edde did not help the team departing from The Thrush-Thrift Group move.

Forbes lists The Thrush-Thrift Group, which it has frequently recognized as one of its "Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams" for Maryland, as having $1 billion under management. It wasn't immediately clear how many of those assets were overseen by the advisors who left.

All four departing advisors started their careers at Merrill. Thrift joined in 2010, Saulsbury and Oursler both in 2022 and Burt in 2017. Thrush remains registered at Merrill and has been there since 1983, according to BrokerCheck.

Wells Fargo’s indie channel snags $1.3B Commonwealth team

Wells Fargo is adding to its division for independent advisors with a large team pulled from Commonwealth Financial Network in New York.

KBK Wealth Management, a six-advisor team in New York City, has joined Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, or FiNet, the firm's channel for advisors working as independent contractors. The team had previously managed $1.3 billion at Commonwealth Financial Network.

Commonwealth has seen an acceleration in advisor departures since it was acquired in August by its former independent broker-dealer rival LPL Financial. Many advisors at Commonwealth, which had a headcount of around 2,900 when the purchase was announced, have questioned if they'd feel truly at home at the much-larger LPL, which has more than 30,000 advisors.

In a statement about why the KBK Wealth Management team went to Wells Fargo, financial advisor Richard Kass said, "This affiliation enables us to preserve our independence while enhancing our platform, capabilities and long-term stability—positioning our practice for the next phase of growth."

Besides Kass, the team consists of the advisors Michael Kessler, Alan Brachfeld, Jeffrey Feinstein, Nancy Curtin and Jordan Cohen. Kass started his career in the 1980s and moved to Commonwealth in 2006 after stints at various other firms.

Fifth Third Advisors pulls $1B duo from Regions Bank

Fifth Third Bank's RIA affiliate is building out its presence in Georgia with an advisor team recruited from its banking rival Regions.

Kim Churchill and Adam Wittan are joining Fifth Third Advisors in Georgia. They had been managing $1 billion in client assets at Regions Bank.

Fifth Third Bank, based in Cincinnati, started its RIA division in 2021 and has been building it quickly by recruiting advisors mostly from other banks. It had roughly $7.2 billion in assets under management by Sept. 30 last year.

Eric Housman, the president of Fifth Third Advisors, has said his ambition is for the RIA to eventually have at least $10 billion under management. About the affiliate's latest recruits, he said in a statement that "Our model gives advisors the time and resources to focus on building deep client relationships and delivering the personalized guidance that sets them apart."

Before joining Fifth Third, Churchill had maintained a brokerage registration through Cetera Investment Services. Meanwhile, Wittan previously was only briefly registered as a broker at Merrill, from 2004 to 2006.

RBC draws team with $670M from Baird

RBC's U.S. wealth management division is putting down more roots in Houston with a team recruited from Baird.

The Ellsworth Fair Wealth Management Group, led by the advisors Steve Ellsworth and Marcus Fair, has joined RBC Wealth Management-U.S.'s Houston Memorial branch in its Texas South Complex. They had previously managed $670 million at Baird.

Ellsworth started at Legg Mason Wood Walker in 2004 and moved to Baird in 2006. Fair started at Baird in 2018.

RBC reported last year that it had roughly 2,200 advisors in its U.S. wealth management unit.

Raymond James goes back to Commonwealth for $420M team

Raymond James' independent channel continues to pull from Commonwealth Financial Network following its acquisition by LPL Financial last year.

Dignum Financial Partners, led by the advisors and distant cousins Elizabeth "Kim" Dignum and Ryan Dignum, have joined Raymond James Financial Services, the firm's division for advisors working as independent contractors. They had previously managed roughly $420 million at Commonwealth Financial Network.

Raymond James has been the biggest destination for advisors departing Commonwealth since its acquisition in August by LPL Financial. When LPL completed that deal, it set itself a goal of retaining at least $305 billion of the assets Commonwealth then had under management. LPL CEO Rich Steinmeier said in an earnings call in October that his firm was well on the way to retaining 80% of those assets but later acknowledged that moving over Commonwealth advisors has taken longer than expected.

LPL, the largest independent broker-dealer by most measures, said in that same earnings call that it ended its third quarter of last year with 32,128 advisors. Likewise reporting quarterly results in October, Raymond James said it has an advisor headcount of 8,787.

Advisor trio with $300M joins Integrated Partners from Keating

Three advisors overseeing roughly $300 million in client assets have joined the large RIA consolidator Integrated Partners in Kansas.

Greg Hill, his son Josh Hill and another advisor named James Norton have all moved over to Integrated Partners to operate under the name Pisces Wealth, in Lawrence, Kansas. Greg Hill and North founded Pisces Wealth in 2020, when they were both affiliated with the financial services firm Keating & Associates. Before joining them, Josh Hill had operated under a separate Keating affiliate name Hillside Wealth.

According to BrokerCheck, Greg Hill has been registered for more than 25 years with Raymond James, which Keating uses as a custodian to safeguard client assets and clear trades. Keating, based in Manhattan, had itself been part of Raymond James for 25 years before breaking off last year to become an independent registered investment advisory. It still uses Raymond James for custody services, while also adding Charles Schwab as a custodian.

Andrea Mohr is the president of Integrated Partners.

Norton was registered at Raymond James from 2002 to 2025 and is now at Purshe Kaplan Sterling. And Josh Hill has been registered with Raymond James since 2015. The Pisces Wealth founders said they chose to go to Integrated Partners because of its expertise in working with ultrahigh net worth clients and investment management and its CPA Alliance service — which helps connect financial advisors with certified public accountants.

Integrated Partners, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, was founded in 1996 and now has nearly $24 billion in assets under advisement. It has more than 220 advisors and 250 certified public accounts working in 116 offices in the U.S.

Forward Investment Services has returned to Cetera Financial Institutions after four years with Osaic.

Cetera

$350M AUA Forward Bank rejoins Cetera’s institutional division

After a stint with Osaic Wealth, Forward Bank is returning to Cetera for support with its investment services.

Cetera announced this week that Marshfield, Wisconsin-based Forward Bank's investment division, Forward Investment Services, is returning to its institutional support unit, Cetera Financial Institutions. Forward Investment Services oversees roughly $350 million in assets under administration.

The team consists of six advisors who work with clients in central and northern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota.

Vice President of Investment Services Scott Wucherpfennig, the head of Forward Investment Services, said the team is returning to Cetera because its institutional division works closely with "banks and credit unions and deeply understands that space."

"We didn't necessarily feel that the last four years," Wucherpfennig said in a statement. "So it's definitely good coming back to a broker-dealer that truly understands us."

Harbor View Private Wealth, a team composed of advisors who formerly managed $1.3 billion at UBS, has joined Elevation Point.

Elevation Point

Elevation Point takes minority stake in $1.3B UBS breakaway

Elevation Point, which buys shares in independent firms in return for providing various support services, has taken a stake in an advisory group that recently broke away from UBS.

Harbor View Private Wealth, led by the advisors Daniel Emerson, Angelo Esposito Jr., Scott Emerson, James Malatos and David Randall, has sold a minority share in itself to Elevation Point. The team had previously managed roughly $1.3 billion at UBS in Atlanta.

Harbor View works with corporate executives and their families to make the most of their benefit packages and help them prepare for retirement. Harbor View will use Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions, which Elevation Point uses as its primary custodian, for the safekeeping of client assets and the clearing of transactions.

Emerson and Esposito founded Harbor View as an affiliate of UBS in 2019. Before that, they had been advisors at Merrill for more than a decade.

Elevation Point was founded in 2024 and receives support from the private equity firm Emigrant Partners. It buys stakes of at least 20% in RIAs and provides them with technology, investment help and back-office support in return. The firms it has invested in have roughly $11 billion in assets under supervision in total.

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