Merrill Lynch

The firm has touted its capabilities, lighter bureaucracy and corporate environment to new hires — factors that have helped lure in top talent.

New hires follow two big additions last month that had AUM topping $2 billion.

Both recruits had a long history with wirehouses before trading them in for the regional broker-dealer.

The new recruits are not the first to trade in the wirehouse for the regional broker-dealer.

The wirehouse shifted and added roles in its private wealth business to capture opportunities in the ultrahigh-net-worth client space.

The regional BD has had a successful run picking off top teams from the wirehouse.

The quintet is the latest to join the bank’s unit catering to wealthy clients.

The former Cetera advisors joined the firm’s employee channel.

The firm looked within its own ranks to fill the position.

The regional broker-dealer is coming off a big recruiting year.

The 17-member team is one of the largest to switch employers in recent years.

The firm added 40,000 new accounts last year and hit a record $3 trillion in client balances.

More often than not, wirehouses were on the losing side of these moves.

Supervisory failures at LPL Financial, J.P. Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup prevented assets from moving to beneficiaries on time.