Merrill advisor moves

Advisor teams moving to or from Merrill, as reported by WirehouseHUB.

• RBC Pulls $2B BofA Private Bank Duo in La Jolla

  Second BofA Private Bank hire into RBC La Jolla in about a month — Behun (MD) and Harris (SVP) with $2B+ firm-reported assets, under a Merrill-trained SoCal complex director, inside RBC's push to add 600 U.S. advisors by 2029. Private bank duo, left BofA Private Bank, joined RBC, La Jolla, $2B

• Merrill's Singer Maxey Team Joins Raymond James in Bend, Oregon

  Singer Maxey Wealth Management left Merrill for Raymond James in Bend with about $4.7 million in reported annual production, clearing WirehouseHUB's automatic coverage bar for wirehouse moves. Singer Maxey, left Merrill, joined Raymond James, Bend, $450M

• Merrill Adds About $770M in Teams From Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo

  Merrill has pulled in two advisory groups that together report roughly $770 million in client assets, according to InvestmentNews, splitting the haul between a New York Park Avenue market hire out of Morgan Stanley and a Boca Raton addition from Wells Fargo Advisors. left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill, $770M

• Greenwood Wealth Partners' David Lorbiecki-Led $1.25B Team Exits D.M. Kelly for Raymond James as Merrill Bleeds Advisors to UBS and Ameriprise

  Merrill Lynch is hemorrhaging talent in both coastal markets and the Midwest simultaneously. If your book sits between $120M and $1.25B, every major platform—Raymond James, UBS, and Ameriprise—is actively building a case for your move right now. Greenwood Wealth Partners, left D.M. Kelly, joined Raymond James, $1.25B

• Merrill Lands $1.2B Aliaskari Group From Morgan Stanley in McLean

  Merrill pulled a named PWM team back from Morgan Stanley — Aliaskari left Merrill in 2012 and just returned with $1.2B and two partners, a concrete wire-to-wire win under Moynihan’s more-advisors mandate. Aliaskari Group, left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill, McLean, $1.2B

• John Pham's Billion-Dollar Merrill Lynch Team Joins UBS in Silicon Valley

  Assets Under Management (AUM): about $1.3 Billion Trailing 12-Month Revenue: about $8 Million Previous Office: Santana Row (San Jose, CA) New Firm: UBS John Pham team, left Merrill, joined UBS, Silicon Valley, $1B+

• BofA CEO Moynihan Tells Merrill It Needs More Advisors to Unlock Growth — Here's What That Means for Recruiting

  Merrill Lynch is actively competing for experienced lateral hires again — advisors at rival wirehouses are now a primary recruitment target, and deal structures are likely to improve as the firm races to fill geographic gaps. It Needs More Advisors, left Morgan Stanley

• Merrill Poaches $1.2B UBS Team in Santa Fe: John Vazquez & Manuel Monasterio Flip the Script in the Desert Southwest

  Merrill is running a systematic high-AUM recruiting playbook across regional markets—if you're at UBS, Morgan Stanley, or Wells Fargo managing a book north of $1B, expect a call. The compensation packages are real, and the Desert Mountain market is clearly a target. left UBS, joined Merrill, Santa Fe, $1.2B

• Citi Hires $3B Private Banker from Bank of America

  Citi is adding senior private-bank talent as it expands its wealth platform, but the reported asset figure is not a standardized measure of transferred assets. Private banker, left Bank of America, joined Citi, $3B

• John Vazquez & Manuel Monasterio Bring $1.2B, $4.7M in Production from UBS to Merrill Lynch in Santa Fe

  If you're a high-producing UBS team watching your colleagues defect, Merrill's recruiting machine is clearly writing checks big enough to move $1.2 billion books out of New Mexico. Know your number. Vazquez / Monasterio team, left UBS, joined Merrill, $1.2B

• UBS Recruits $500M Merrill Team in Bellevue

  The Bellevue move gives UBS a $500 million planning-focused practice in the Pacific Northwest. left Merrill, joined UBS, Bellevue, $500M

• Al Hammond's $13B Graystone Team Defects to Merrill in One of 2026's Largest Wirehouse Moves

  This move signals Merrill's willingness to deploy serious transition capital to capture institutional consulting AUM at scale — and confirms that even entrenched Graystone teams are in play. Al Hammond team, left Morgan Stanley (Graystone), joined Merrill, $13B

• Merrill Pulls Morgan Stanley Advisors Into Chicago North & Nashville While LPL Raids Cetera Across Two States

  If you're at Morgan Stanley in Chicago or Nashville, expect a Merrill recruiter call soon—and if you're at a mid-size IBD like Cetera, LPL's checkbook is clearly open. The battleground is every major metro market, and transition packages are only getting richer. left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill

• UBS Raids BofA's Florida Private Bank for a $1.3B Team Flying Below Radar

  UBS is targeting non-registered private bank talent — relationship managers and trust officers who move assets without appearing on BrokerCheck — as a stealth recruiting lane that bypasses the public scoreboard entirely. If your firm isn't watching this channel, it's already behind. Private bank team, left BofA Private Bank, joined UBS, $1.3B

• UBS Lands $1.3B Tampa Team Poached Directly from Bank of America Private Bank

  UBS is targeting Bank of America's private banking clientele in high-growth Florida markets — if you're a BofA advisor in the Southeast managing significant AUM, expect a call. Private bank team, left BofA Private Bank, joined UBS, Tampa, $1.3B

• Swiss, Not European

  This article examines a common perception among financial advisors considering UBS and explains why Switzerland's regulatory environment differs significantly from the European Union. Swiss / European team, left Merrill

• K. Shaun Cosby & Edward Powell Pull $460M Book From Merrill, Hand Morgan Stanley a $5M Birmingham Win

  Morgan Stanley has now poached multiple high-producing Merrill teams out of Birmingham in quick succession. If you're a Merrill advisor in the Southeast watching your comp structure, this is your peers voting with their feet—and Morgan Stanley is clearly dangling the right incentives to close the deal. left Merrill, $460M

• Peter Choy's $460M Exit: 20-Year UBS Veteran Lands at Merrill Lynch Nashville as Wells Fargo Sweeps Up $825M on the West Coast

  Merrill is running a disciplined playbook—targeting seasoned UBS producers with $400M+ books in secondary markets like Nashville. If you're a UBS advisor in a growth city, expect a Merrill recruiter call soon. Peter Choy team, left UBS, $460M

• Merrill Poaches Morgan Stanley's Hartford Branch Manager Jazz Skair to Lead Connecticut Market

  Merrill is targeting experienced wirehouse branch managers—not just producing advisors—to anchor regional recruiting pipelines. If you're a market leader at a competing firm, expect your phone to ring. left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill

• Baird Snags $508M RBC Team While Merrill Lynch Pulls $560M in New Talent—Nearly $1.1B Shifts in One Recruiting Cycle

  Nearly $1.1 billion in client assets just changed hands between four major firms in a single recruiting cycle—if your book is in a Midwest market, expect your phone to ring from a competitor's recruiter soon. left RBC, joined Baird, $508M

• UBS Recruits $344M Merrill Team in Nashville

  The Nashville hire gives UBS an experienced Merrill team in a fast-growing Southern wealth market. left Merrill, joined UBS, Nashville, $344M

• Merrill Lynch's $2.2B California Grab Proves the Private Bank Pipeline is Wide Open

  Merrill Lynch recruited a $2.2B J.P. Morgan private banker in San Francisco, setting a new benchmark for UHNW talent pricing in 2026 as wirehouse competition for top producers intensifies. joined Merrill, $2.2B

• Raymond James Reports Strongest Advisor Recruiting Pipeline in Decades as Ameriprise Sweetens Offers

  Raymond James says it is seeing the most robust incoming advisor pipeline in company history, while Ameriprise Financial has quietly raised its upfront recruiting packages — signs that regional broker-dealers are emerging as the big winners in the current wave of wirehouse advisor movement. Recruiting Pipeline, left Merrill, Decades

• BofA Co-President Pledges 'More Aggressive' Merrill Lynch Recruiting in 2026

  Bank of America's co-president Alastair Borthwick says the firm is pivoting from retention-first to active recruiting as Merrill Lynch looks to rebuild headcount after years of advisor attrition. left Bank of America

• Morgan Stanley Poaches $1.1 Billion Merrill Lynch Team in San Francisco

  A five-person Merrill Lynch team managing $1.1B in tech executive assets has moved to Morgan Stanley in San Francisco. left Merrill, joined Morgan Stanley, San Francisco, $1.1B

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