$655M team leaves Merrill for Stifel

Stifel recruited three veteran advisers who oversaw $655 million in client assets while at Merrill Lynch, a firm spokesman says.

Team members William Lloyd, Andrew Means and Peter Willsea joined Stifel's office in Rochester, N.Y.

Lloyd started his career in 1987 with Dean Witter and left two years later for Merrill Lynch, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. Means started his career at the wirehouse in 1996, per BrokerCheck. And Willsea began his advisory career at Merrill in 2004.

Complex Manager Robert Codignotto said the addition of the team to Stifel will boost the firm's growth in the region.

• J.P. Morgan Securities
• Raymond James Financial
• Wells Fargo
• Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network
• Career moves
• Morgan Stanley
• RBC
• Merrill Lynch
• Recruiting

Advisers on the move: Morgan loses teams with $1B in combined AUM

Also, J.P. Morgan saw a team managing $300 million in client assets go independent.

By Nicholas Yeap

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These hires are the latest large wirehouse team to join Stifel. In May, the St. Louis-based firm recruited a Morgan Stanley team that oversaw $540 million in client assets. Advisers Larry Watts, Casey Knowles, Robert Thompson and Brian Wilkinson opened a new office for Stifel in Stockton, Calif. They generated $3.5 million in annual revenue, Stifel says.

Read more: $540M team leaves Morgan for Stifel

John Pierce, head of Advisor Recruitment at Stifel, says the firm is attracting more interest from wirehouse advisers. "These teams are seeing that Stifel has broad-based capabilities to cater to high-net-worth-clients while also providing financial advisors direct access to senior leadership," he said in a statement.

Also moving to Rochester office is ex-wirehouse William Kablack, who oversaw $39 million in client assets while at Merrill Lynch. Kablack started his advisory career in 2012, according to BrokerCheck records.

A Merrill spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.