RBC lures $182M team from Wells Fargo

RBC Wealth Management notched a recruiting victory against Wells Fargo Advisors with the addition of a $182 million team.

Halcyon Wealth Management Group — comprised of Alfred Hobgood III, his son Alfred Hobgood IV and A. Harrison Peatross — brings a combined 81 years of experience to RBC’s Raleigh, North Carolina, office. The group previously spent eight years at Wells Fargo, prior to which they were at Scott & Stringfellow, an RIA in Richmond, Virginia, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. Nancy Winborne is the group’s registered client associate.

The team, which until recently operated as Hobgood Peatross Investment Group, will report to RBC’s Atlanta Complex Director Chip Anderson. “RBC Wealth Management is actively recruiting financial advisors in the Raleigh market that fit our client-centric values,” Anderson said in a statement.

“Our team conducted extensive due diligence and looked across the country at small to mid-sized brokerage firms,” Hobgood IV says. “We felt that RBC Wealth Management’s platform, technology and service really provided us with the best possible opportunities to serve our clients.”

The news came prior to Wells Fargo’s announcement that it would launch a hybrid robo advisor that aims to convert some of the bank’s 22 million young savings and loans customers into investment clients.

Advisor retention has been a problem for Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment management group in the past year. After losing more than 500 advisors in three quarters, the firm recently reversed that trend, adding 37 new advisors in the most recent quarter.

hobgood peatross group

Wells Fargo did not return a request for comment.

RBC’s new head of recruiting, Michael Parker, defected from HighTower last month to help continue the broker-dealer’s hiring spree. RBC’s approximately 1,800 advisors oversee $310 billion in client assets, according to the company.

In a bit of déjà vu, this is the second time a father-son team left Wells Fargo for RBC in the past two weeks. The $395 million Dominello Investment Group, led by George and William Dominello, recently joined RBC’s office in Farmington, Connecticut.

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