After headcount dips, Ameriprise hires $234M father-son team

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Ameriprise added a father-son team, helping replenish its advisor ranks after reporting headcount dipped for the fourth quarter.

Norman Robbins and his son Micheal joined the firm on Jan. 3 in Boca Raton, Florida. They left Cetera Financial Group after less than a year with the firm and now operate within Ameriprise’s employee channel.

Norman Robbins has 38 years of experience, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. Both the veteran advisor and his son spent 16 years at Summit Brokerage before making the move to Cetera, where they worked for less than a year.

Though Ameriprise has been on a recruiting push, the firm’s advisor ranks actually dipped at the end of the fourth quarter, ticking down a net 60 advisors — or 1% year-over-year — to 9,871. Still, the firm said that 63 new advisors joined it in the fourth quarter.

CEO Jim Cracchiolo said during a recent earnings call that he expects its brokerage force to “pick up a bit” in 2020.

Ameriprise also said this week that it hired a three-person team from Merrill Lynch in November. Gregory Barbaro, Lou DeMartino and James Tucker joined the firm in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Barbaro has 17 years of experience, 15 of which he spent at Merrill Lynch, according to BrokerCheck. Both he and DeMartino, who spent seven of his eight years at the wirehouse, got their start at UBS.

Tucker has five years of experience, all which were spent at Merrill Lynch.

Spokespersons for Cetera and Merrill Lynch didn’t reply to request for comment on the moves.

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Career moves Recruiting Wirehouse advisors Independent BDs Regional BDs Merrill Lynch Cetera Financial Group Ameriprise
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