Raymond James (RJF) said Thursday that it hired a team for its employee channel from Wells Fargo in Richmond, Va., with about $1.1 million in yearly sales and $90 million in assets. This news comes about a week after the firm tapped three reps in near Jackson, Miss., to join its independent-advisor operations from Wells Fargo (WFC) and UBS (UBS) with roughly $3 million in combined annual fees and commissions, as well as about $500 million in assets.
Advisors James A. Schmidt and Bernice “Bernie” Murff recently formed the Schmidt Wealth Management Group of Raymond James and opened the first Raymond James & Associates office in Richmond.
“I’m thrilled to welcome such an accomplished team to Raymond James,” said Tash Elwyn, (left) president of RJ&A, in a press release. “Jim and Bernie are extremely talented, offer very individualized services and bring extensive experience to our firm. We could not ask for a stronger team to open the first RJ&A office in Richmond.”
The team focuses on a “relatively small base of client families particularly customized investment services,” said Schmidt, in a statement, “so it was extremely important to us to be able to continue to offer these strategies at Raymond James. Tash and complex manager Tony Barrett and many home office associates worked tirelessly with us to be sure this was possible.”
Schmidt and Murff met with senior leadership and numerous employees, according to Murff. “[I]t was evident that everyone enjoyed working at Raymond James, and that they all understood the importance of helping clients achieve their financial goals,” he said in a release. “The firm’s values and the culture just felt right to us.”
Raymond James says its independent broker-dealer has three offices in the Richmond area and one bank branch that offers an investment program through a partnership with Raymond James Financial.
On Dec. 27, financial advisors Arthur Finkelberg, Butch McKenzie Jr., and Albert Green joined Raymond James’ employee channel in Jackson.
“I am thrilled to be able to open our first ever office for Raymond James & Associates in this part of the country with such an accomplished group of advisors,” said Ira Federer, divisional director for the unit, in a press release.
Raymond James is moving to expand in the Gulf Coast, according to Tom Galvin, complex manager for the region. “[W]e are looking for advisors of this caliber and reputation to join our growing division,” he said in a statement. The firm’s independent-advisor channel has 16 independent offices in the state of Mississippi, as well as seven bank branches with investment programs.
Finkelberg comes to Raymond James from Wells Fargo where he managed $283 million in client assets and had annual production of $1.5 million. He began his career in 1982 with Merrill Lynch, later joining A.G. Edwards and the succeeding firms of Wachovia and Wells Fargo.
“I wanted to join an investment firm where all the employees, from top management on down, are focused on one thing: helping our clients,” said Finkelberg. “After researching almost every firm out there, I found that Raymond James came closest to that ideal."
McKenzie also joined Raymond James from Wells Fargo, where he managed over $110 million in client assets and had annual production of almost $600,000. He started his career with A.G. Edwards in 1984, moving to Paine Webber in 1990 and back to A.G. Edwards in 1995, staying through the Wachovia and Wells Fargo acquisitions.
“After meeting with senior management, department heads and numerous employees,” said McKenzie in a statement, “it was evident that everyone enjoyed working at Raymond James, and that they all understood the focus of the firm is helping clients achieve their financial goals.”
Green joined the firm from UBS, where he managed almost $150 million in client assets and had $949,000 in annual production. Green, an almost 50-year veteran of the industry, began his financial services career with Equitable Securities in 1962. That firm was then acquired by Paine Webber and later UBS Financial Services.
Raymond James has about 5,400 advisors in its various channels in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom with some $268 billion in assets under administration.
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