Citi Adds 3 Advisors, $750M to Private Wealth

As Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup (C) continue to dispute the value of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture, Citi is moving to expand its own private wealth-management business.

On Monday, Citi said it had added three advisors with nearly $750 million in client assets. These additions, the company notes, are part of its plan to boost Citigold, its high-end banking and wealth-management offering in major cities nationwide.

“Adding Joel [Basciani], Rob [Loeb] and Steve [Collins] to the Citi Personal Wealth Management team underscores our commitment to investing in talent that shares our devotion to building a client-first culture,” said Frank Consalo (left), director of field management for investments at Citi Personal Wealth Management, in a statement.  “We’re pleased these three highly-regarded advisors have joined more than 30 others in choosing Citi as the best firm to serve their growing client base.”

Basciani and Loeb join Citi from HSBC and will be based in New York, while Stephen Collins comes to Citi from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BAC) and will work in Tarrytown, N.Y.

According to Citigroup, more than 35 financial advisors with over $1.7 billion in client assets have joined Citi Personal Wealth Management this year. In the United States, Citigold now has about $100 billion in client balances (of which some $20 billion are investment assets) and includes more than 300 financial advisors. This represents about $66 million in average investment assets per rep.