JPMorgan Chase’s wealth management division has signed an adviser team from Merrill Lynch that oversaw $28 billion in client assets, Barron’s reported Friday.
JPMorgan hired away a team led by Eric Gray and Lance Polverini in Los Angeles. At Merrill, the team generated annual revenue of around $10 million, working with about 51 client households that have an average account size of $50 million, Barron’s reported.
“Their decision to join us is further confirmation that J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is the best place for the industry’s top advisors to grow their business and for clients to grow their wealth,” J.P. Morgan Advisors CEO Phil Sieg said in a statement seen by AdvisorHub.
The five-member team, which also includes Drew Sapede, Irma Deluna and Michelle Blackmer, specializes in ultra-high-net-worth clients like legacy families and founders, co-founders and C-suite executives, JPMorgan said on its website.
The team will report to David Berger, market leader for JPMorgan’s Southwest region.
Gray joined Merrill in 2000 from Goldman Sachs, according to his LinkedIn profile. Polverini joined Merrill in 2007 as a senior financial analyst before becoming a vice president focused on equity and fixed-income securities analysis, economic analysis and forecasting, portfolio management and trading, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“We very much look forward to taking our practice to the next level, leveraging the extraordinary resources and expertise of J.P. Morgan on behalf of our clients,” Gray said in a statement seen by Barron’s.
The duo has been instrumental in establishing Merrill’s Century City office and conducting its private wealth operation in Los Angeles, Phil Waxelbaum, an industry recruiter who is familiar with the team but wasn’t involved in the hiring process, told AdvisorHub.
“This is a devastating blow [to Merrill] in terms of both in revenue and reputational value,” he added.
JPMorgan has sought to bolster its wealth management division while beating back market competition. Last month, six JPMorgan teams that managed roughly $15 billion in total assets quit the company’s brokerage unit to join its rivals. Five of the teams had financial advisers from First Republic, according to Barron’s. JPMorgan acquired most of First Republic Bank’s assets, along with its deposits and certain liabilities, a year ago amid the regional banking crisis.
