As it works through its latest series of restructuring steps, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MS) says it also hiring advisors from rivals.
A recent recruiting effort netted nine advisors from UBS (UBS), Merrill Lynch (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and LPL Financial (LPLA) with about $1.2 billion in combined assets and more than $8.3 million in yearly fees and commissions, according to a spokesperson who shared the information with AdvisorOne on Monday.
The news of these hires comes on the heels of further restructuring at MSSB, which continues to cut costs and take other measures to boost results while also fighting the challenge of departing advisors.
In July, Morgan Stanley, led by James Gorman (left) reported a 50% drop in second-quarter profits, which totaled $563 million, compared with profits of $1.19 billion a year ago. It also said that the number of MSSB advisors dropped 2% from last quarter and 6% from last year—representing a loss of about 1,050 advisors—to 16,934.
Last week, Wells Fargo Advisors said that over the summer it has added several teams and individual advisors from MSSB with about $860 million in assets under management to its traditional employee-advisor channel.
New MSSB Recruits