Former Merrill Lynch Wealth Management executives have teamed up to launch a new registered investment advisor firm.

Snowden Capital Advisors is described as an independent and advisor-owned company that will be targeting individuals, families and corporates in the US and abroad. The firm said in a statement that it expects to hire several advisor teams this year.

The firm is co-founded by Rob Mooney, chief executive, and John Morris, managing partner, who both spent more than two decades at Merrill Lynch working in wealth management. Morris served as chairman of the Latin America region for the international private client group, while Mooney was general counsel and head of business risk management for global wealth management.

When explaining the rationale behind the New York City-based start-up, the company’s founders said that client assets are continuing to flow from wirehouses to independent firms.

Among Snowden's investors are Lyle LaMothe, former head of US wealth advisory for Merrill Lynch, and Greg Franks, a former division director of that firm.