The largest U.S. securities brokerage by sales force, Morgan Stanley, said this week it hired three financial advisors who collectively managed $1.275 billion in client assets away from rival brokerages.

Michael Torpey and Charles Malamut started work at Morgan Stanley's office in Northfield, New Jersey, on Aug. 28 from Bank of America's Merrill Lynch, where they managed $1.1 billion in client assets and generated nearly $3.5 million in annual revenue.

Jon Garofalo joined Morgan Stanley in Westport, Connecticut, just one day later on Aug. 29, from JP Morgan Securities, where he managed $175 million in client assets and produced $1.5 million in revenue over the most recent 12 months.

A Merrill Lynch spokeswoman confirmed Torpey and Malamut left the firm but declined to comment further.

JP Morgan did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

Morgan Stanley, which employed 16,316 financial advisors as of June 30, often hires advisors from rival brokerages.

While the firm does not publicly announce all of the advisors it recruits, it most recently publicized the hiring of six new advisors in July.