Kia Friedman and husband Kenneth Friedman have joined Smith Barney’s office in Palo Alto, California from Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and now report to Cira Nickerson, branch manager.

While at Merrill the Friedmans managed over $188 million in client assets and had around $2.7 million in combined trailing 12-month production. They had each worked for Merrill for almost a year and at Bank of America for over seven years.

Meanwhile, William Ard and Roxanne Ricca, formerly with UBS, have joined Smith Barney in Westfield, New Jersey. The pair now report to branch manager Todd Sachs.

At UBS they had $223 in assets under management and over $1 million in production; Mr Ard had been at UBS for 16 years, while Ms Ricca had worked for the Swiss bank and wealth manager for two years.

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.

In January, 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.