One firm again dominates On Wall Street's Top 40 Under 40: Morgan Stanley.
The wirehouse returned to this year's rankings with 14 advisors, matching its total from the last rankings, although not with all the same names. Read our story about the latest list to see how Morgan's advisors stack up against the elite from other firms. Annual production figures determine the order of the rankings, based on nominations submitted to us. To make your own tale of the tape, you can compare the latest rankings against last year's
Industry insiders credit placement in the rankings on training and recruitment. "Morgan has a good program for getting young people in," says recruiter Michael King. "And they make the most effort to get young people for whom wealth management is a second career."
Advisors on the rankings say that they make the cut because of their commitment to clients. "I think when you transcend just a business relationship, clients can feel that," says John Perry, this year's No. 1.
Morgan advisor Jack Wong, who is this year's No. 10 and was previously manager of a bank's retail branch when he was only 18, gives credit to teamwork as well. "One of the things that I would say really separates us is the customer-service standpoint. Every team member knows our clients," he says.
Among the other firms in the latest rankings, Merrill Lynch shows up with 12 advisors, the second-highest number after Morgan, followed by UBS with eight. Credit Suisse has dropped from the list, but that may be because the firm is retreating from managing wealth for U.S. clients.
Wells Fargo made a deal with Credit Suisse to recruit its elite U.S.-based advisors. But, so far, many have gone to other competitors. (See our story about one of those moves, on page 9.) For example, Josef Najar, who was No. 39 as a Credit Suisse advisor in the last rankings, now shows up as No. 22, working for Morgan Stanley.
Raymond James has 14 advisors on an expanded Top 25 Regional Advisors Under 40, the most on those rankings. But it's RBC that tops the list with Christopher Vollmer, this year's No. 1 regional advisor. Nicholas Anger, this year's No. 3, says his team takes client service to the next level, even if it means going far beyond the scope of wealth management.
"We've advised on choosing a college for a client's child," he says. "And we've sent someone to a client's home to help with computer issues. One client even called us when her car broke down."
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