RBC Wealth Management has brought in Michael Melton as branch director at its San Diego, CA, office.

The move expands the Canadian bank's presence in Southern California, which includes offices in Beverly Hills, Century City, Escondido, La Jolla, Long Beach, Newport Beach, Pasadena and Manhattan Beach.

Melton has over 20 years of industry experience and joins RBC Wealth Management from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley Wealth Management), where he was most recently complex director of the San Diego and Palm Desert market.

RBC Wealth Management is currently leasing temporary space for its San Diego branch and expects to relocate it to a permanent location in downtown San Diego in the fall of 2013, the firm said.

In the US, RBC Wealth Management operates as a division of RBC Capital Markets and has over $235 billion of assets under administration, with some 2,000 advisors operating across 42 states.