Merrill Lynch Snags $1.2B Team from Morgan Stanley in Virginia
Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch has added several advisors from rivals, representing a combined $1.8 billion in client assets.
The largest win is The Aliaskari Group, which joins Merrill Private Wealth Management in McLean, Va., bringing about $1.2 billion in client assets from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management.
The group includes founding partner Mehrak Aliaskari, who returns to Merrill after leaving for Morgan Stanley in 2012, according to BrokerCheck; Corinne Heiberger, a private wealth manager with more than a decade of experience at Morgan Stanley; and Frank Vorndran, a financial advisor who began his career at Morgan Stanley in 2010.
The team, which was producing about $5.8 million in revenue, specializes in serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients and will be based in Merrill’s Northern Virginia market and aligned with Merrill’s Southeast private wealth division.
Separately, Merrill noted that financial advisor Dylan Price has joined Merrill’s Charlotte office in the Charlotte & Associates Market, bringing about $300 million in client assets and $1.7 mililon in production from Truist.
Price joined Truist in 2020 after being at BB&T Securities, according to BrokerCheck.
Finally, financial advisor Ronnie Murad has joined Merrill’s Charleston, W.Va., office, bringing about $285 million in client assets and $1.5 million in production from Wells Fargo.
Murad will join the Louisville & Associates Market after about eight years with Wells, according to BrokerCheck. Prior to Wells, Murad held roles at Alex. Brown & Sons, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup Global Markets.
Merrill’s wins come as Bank of America has reportedly seen the largest net losses among advisors this year through Aug. 13, according to the most recent data from Wolfe Research.
According to that analysis of regulatory filings, Bank of America had a net loss of 552 advisors, followed by Edward Jones and Equitable Advisors, with 334 each.
LPL Financial, minus losses from Commonwealth Financial Network advisors, had the highest net gain of advisors at 378, followed by Raymond James at 293, according to Wolfe. When accounting for Commonwealth defectors, the researchers found LPL had 153 net advisor wins.
The wirehouses are generally battling back against poaching by RIAs, many of which are backed by private equity and represent the fastest-growing sector in wealth management.
