Ameriprise Financial recruited a four-advisor team from Morgan Stanley on Friday with about $130 million in assets under management.
The group joined an Ameriprise branch in Birmingham, Ala.; it includes Angelo Ferlisi, Randy Laird, Bill Morris and Pearson Matthews.
"This is emblematic of Ameriprise's efforts of the past few years," said Manish Dave, senior director and vice president of business development in a phone interview. "We are focusing and intensifying our efforts to attract financial advisors from the industry."
In the past 24 months, Ameriprise has hired more than 800 financial advisors from the wirehouse firms, as well as from regional and independent broker-dealers, Dave says. About two-thirds or roughly 530 FAs are from Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and UBS.
The local Ameriprise branch manager who attracted the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney team is Mayo Woodward.
"We are finding some 'wirehouse fatigue,' " explained Dave. "We are successful at attracting advisors who want to serve their clients … and, as our advertisement says, we are not for everybody. That said, recent recruiting activity — though down from the '09 highs — is picking up … as advisors see what else is out there."
