People Moves
Smith Barney Hires Raft Of Advisors From Rivals
Smith Barney, Citigroup’s brokerage unit, has recently lured a number of financial advisors from Wachovia, UBS, Merrill Lynch and SunTrust Investment Services, Dow Jones reports.
Robert Mitchell, David Meadors and Michael Goodman were recruited
from Wachovia Securities for Smith Barney's Plano, Texas office.
According to the report, the team had $3 million in combined
trailing 12-month production and managed $252 million in client
assets while at
Wachovia.
In Williamsburg, Virginia, Smith Barney hired Peter Kokolis, John
Kokolis, Doug Myers, and Jeff Smith from
Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, where the team had
had $2 million in production and managed $386 million in client
assets.
Meanwhile, Matt Shafer, Mark Barber, and Jeff Winkler, formerly
of
UBS, joined Smith Barney’s Boca Raton, Florida office. The
team had $1.6 million in production and managed $275 million in
client assets at the Swiss banking giant.
In addition, John Lewis and Joe Bartholomew joined Smith Barney
in Richmond, Virginia from
SunTrust Investment Services, a division of SunTrust Banks.
At SunTrust the pair had $2.2 million in production and $608
million in assets under management, the news service said.
Last month, it was reported that Smith Barney had seen an exodus of representatives and advisors in the first seven weeks of 2009. Investment News, citing a unnamed source close to the situation, reported that the firm had lost 539 brokers between 1 January and 19 February.
Smith Barney had already seen the departure of 970 brokers in the fourth quarter of 2008, the report said. Last year the firm’s advisor head count dropped 11 per cent to 13,765.
Industry commentators have attributed the departures from Smith Barney seen at the end of last year to the declining fortunes of Citigroup, the firm’s parent.
It has also been speculated those leaving this year may have been displeased with Smith Barney’s preparations to be the junior partner to former rival Morgan Stanley in the two firms’ impending joint venture.
Citigroup said it would exchange Smith Barney for a 49 per cent stake in a new firm, dubbed Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and a $2.7 billion cash payment.
