UBS Wealth Management Americas and Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch and have been at war, recruiting financial advisers from each other.
Having recently added five new financial advisers, Merill Lynch generated a combined 7.5 million dollars in annual fees and commissions.
Michael Appelbaum, who spent over two years at UBS according to the Financial Industry Regulation Authority, recently joined Merrill Lynch’s office in New York City.
According to a Merrill Lynch spokeswoman, Appelbaum oversaw 450 million dollars of client assets and generated 1.8 million dollars in annual fees and commissions at UBS.
Also, Juan Cabanas, who spent over four years at UBS, recently transferred to Merrill Lynch in San Diego. At UBS, he managed 192 million dollars in client assets and generated 2.2 million dollars of annual fees and commissions.
Coming from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, a team comprising Darrick Walker, David Liebowitz and Michael Muniz also joined Merrill Lynch in Pleasanton, California. According to data from the Financial Industry Regulation Authority, the was with Smith Barney for four years, managing a combined 350 million dollars worth of client assets and generating some 3.5 million dollars in annual fees and commissions.
In the meantime, UBS expanded its squad with two teams of advisers which will be operating at the UBS offices in Baltimore. The new additions have generated fees and commissions of 5.3 million dollars annually. According to UBS both teams were snatched from Merrill Lynch. The team of advisers managed a total of 500 million dollars in assets, and will specialize in advising clients facing big life changes, such as divorce or widowhood.
The new team, along with four junior advisers, consists of eight financial advisers and investment specialists and will work under the name “The Family Financial Services Group”.
