Raymond James Nabs 11 Reps From Wirehouses, Other Rivals

Raymond James Financial Services has added six financial advisors to affiliate Crux Wealth Advisors from rivals like Merrill Lynch and UBS, while its Alex. Brown unit has added five advisors from rivals including Merrill, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

The 11 advisors joining Crux and Alex. Brown manage more than $1.2 billion in combined assets, according to the firm.

The advisors joining Crux in Long Beach, California, manage over $500 million. They include Jonathan Plail, president and CEO of Buffalo, New York-based Plail Wealth Management, formerly with Merrill Lynch, where he managed about $120 million in client assets; as well as wealth advisors Anthony Pandolfi and Andrew Durfee who previously worked for UBS Financial Services, where they managed about $110 million in assets.

The addition of JoAnn Favia to Crux, meanwhile, marks its strategic expansion in Illinois and the opening of the group's first office in Chicago. Earlier, she was affiliated with Kestra Investment Services, where she managed about $175 million in assets.

Also joining Crux are Tony Cirocco and Jared Smith, located in Buffalo, New York. Their former affiliation was with Key Investment Services, where they managed more than $125 million in assets.

Crux has experienced rapid expansion in the past two years across the U.S. with additions on the West Coast, central and Northeast regions, Raymond James said.

"We felt that aligning with Crux Wealth Advisors and Raymond James would provide us with the right combination of an in-depth platform of resources on an independent chassis," according to Cirocco.

As Crux started "exploring our expansion into Western New York and Illinois, we found we had a unique opportunity to partner with advisors who may feel underserved and could benefit from an alignment" with Raymond James, according to Crux CEO Travis Alexander.

Alex. Brown Adds 5

Separately, Alex. Brown said the five advisors who recently joined it managed more than $695 million in combined client assets.

The advisors who joined the firm were: Miami, Florida-based Christopher Murrle-Philippsen from Wells Fargo and Jose de la Lama from Merrill Lynch; Atlanta, Georgia-based Lee Haverstock from Morgan Stanley; Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based William Taylor from Merrill; and Washington, D.C.-based Mark Murphy from Janney Montgomery Scott.

Murrle-Philippsen is just the latest advisor to join Raymond James from Wells Fargo. Raymond James announced in February that it added a team of eight financial advisors managing a combined $1.1 billion in client assets from Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network.

Alex. Brown continues to "strategically grow" its presence across the U.S., according to Haig Ariyan, the Raymond James division's president, adding, "we look forward to continuing to grow the division throughout the U.S. in 2021."

Haverstock, vice president of wealth management, has more than 26 years of experience, mainly at Morgan Stanley, where he served as a financial advisor since 1995.

"I was really attracted to Alex. Brown because of its long history and tremendous proficiency and support for me in my work with high-net-worth families, business owners and executives," according to Haverstock. "For my clients, it will be the perfect combination of a high-touch firm that also offers a comprehensive platform and deep resources," he said.

Debt Rating

Separately this week, Raymond James Financial said it received a long-term senior unsecured rating of A- with a stable outlook for the first time by Fitch Ratings.

"The ratings reflect RJF's strong franchise in the U.S. wealth management space, solid capital levels, significant deposit funding, proven access to unsecured debt markets, a long-dated debt maturity profile and sound profitability," Fitch explained.

Raymond James Financial now has 8,200 financial advisors throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas, managing combined client assets of $1.06 trillion, according to the company.