Morgan Stanley has confirmed that it hired a 12-person advisory team from San Francisco handling some $3 billion in assets from the troubled First Republic Bank, the commercial bank and wealth management provider. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson said that the hires were unsolicited.
The team includes four managing directors at First Republic: Randy J. Peterson, Sean Bricmont, David Dudek and Stephen Marotto, as well as eight staff members. Only Peterson's LinkedIn page had been updated by Friday and now lists him as a managing director at Morgan Stanley.
A source listed the team’s 12-month revenue at $23 million.
First Republic has been at the center of a banking crisis since March as it has been hit with massive withdrawals of $100 billion in deposits. Despite a rescue attempt by 11 of the country's largest banks, the company's precarious position has led to a 43% stock decline on Friday alone and widespread reports that the FDIC would take the bank into receivership.
This is just the latest in a number of high profile departures from First Republic, which for the past few years has been on an aggressive acquisition spree to grab high-net-worth clientele and win wealthy clients by attracting advisors who cater to that market. Now that strategy is being called into question.
The departure of massive amounts of high-net-worth money, invested in a bank driven by wealth managers with a relatively small cohort of affluent clients, has revealed how vulnerable this model is.
Among the higher profile advisory departures: This week, First Republic lost a $13 billion team, Constellation Wealth Advisors, to giant Chicago-based RIA Cresset Capital, according to Barron's.
Earlier today, Financial Advisor reported that the Friedman Peters Group, a team with $400 million in assets under management that includes Mark Friedman and Mitchell Peters, would be moving from First Republic to RBC, which earlier this week picked up solo practitioners Brian Addington and Theresa Allen, with a combined $555 million in client assets. RBC picked up Todd Halbrook and Adam MacDonald Wealth Management Group, a $1 billion team last week. They joined RBC in Newport Beach.