A team managing over $700 million at J.P. Morgan Securities has jumped ship, taking the practice to a hybrid RIA and private banking boutique, making them the latest team to move to the independent channel.
William Christian, Tammi Lauder, and brothers Michael and William Lent will now serve wealthy clients and institutions at Fieldpoint Private, which is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The team was drawn to the firm because it is able to deliver all of the advice, products and services of a large firm, but with a “nimbleness, creativity, and client-centricity that doesn’t exist on the Street,” says Fieldpoint CEO Robert Matthews.
“They’re the ultimate example of what we’re looking for,” Matthews said of the team, dubbed the Landmark Group. “They advise their clients on both sides of the balance sheet.”
Fieldpoint has 28 advisors and approximately 80 employees.
Although Landmark and Fieldpoint have only been together a few days, the client response so far has been positive, Matthews says.
“We visited with a client yesterday afternoon, very large client, very successful family,” Matthews says. “We opened up a series of accounts and I went on the client call to let the client know they are important to us and that I was at their beck and call, and gave them my cellphone number.”
The team's roots date back over 40 years, the firm said in a statement. The Lent brothers began working together at Prescott, Ball and Turben in the 1970s. In 1993 they moved to Smith Barney, and later that year Lauder joined the firm, followed by Christian in 1997.
They formed the Landmark Group in 2002 and the team moved to J.P. Morgan Securities in 2010.
The team also cites Fieldpoint's intellectual and research resources as further reasons to make the move.
“At first we were surprised, but we realized the access Fieldpoint offered was not in spite of their boutique size, but because of it,” Lauder said in a statement. “Now, just steps away, we have colleagues who headed investment research, private client credit, trust and wealth planning for Citi Private Bank, Smith Barney and U.S. Trust. That proximity is simply not feasible at the giant firms.”
A spokeswoman for J.P. Morgan could not be reached for immediate comment.
