Merrill Lynch (BAC) said an ex-Morgan Stanley (MS) team with over $3 million in yearly fees and commissions has joined its Rockefeller Center office in New York. Other broker-dealers with new recruits include Securities America and Commonwealth Financial.
Bank of America-Merrill's latest recruited team includes John Mirsepahi, Matthew Cali and Matthew Zamora, who do business as the J.M. Group.
"Merrill Lynch is pleased to have this experienced team," said complex director Michael Simonds, in a statement. "John has clearly demonstrated success in the New York City marketplace over the past 20 years … and [was] a Chairman's Club producer at Morgan Stanley for the past nine years; we look forward to his continued success."
Both Mirsepahi and Zamora worked for Merrill Lynch previously. Mirsepahi cut his teeth in the industry at Paine Webber from 1995 to 1999 and then was with Merrill Lynch from 1999 to 2005, when he moved to Citigroup, which later sold its Smith Barney unit to Morgan Stanley.
Zamora was with Merrill Lynch from May 2009 to October 2010 before moving to Morgan Stanley, while Cali worked previously for Laidlaw and Co., as well as Citi.
"My decision to join Merrill Lynch is the result of an extensive amount of industry due diligence, ultimately driven by what I believe will be in the best interests of our clients," said Mirsepahi, in a statement. "In short, we will be able to take advantage of the combined strengths of the top wealth management organization, Merrill Lynch, along with the market leading banking, lending and financial stability of Bank of America."
Other Recruits
Securities America, part of Ladenburg Thalmann (LTS), says Randy Scritchfield of Damascus, Maryland, came on board from H. Beck, where he had been since 1987 and built up a practice with some $115 million in client assets.
"We understand the immense amount of due diligence an advisor must make to switch broker-dealers after nearly three decades," said Gregg Johnson, executive vice president of branch office development and acquisitions at Securities America, in a statement. "Randy's decision to join us reflects the value advisors place on the client-focused culture offered at Securities America."
