$1.2 billon adviser team leaves Morgan Stanley for Bank of America Merrill Lynch

A $1.2 billion team of advisers led by Andrew Zimmerman has left Morgan Stanley for Merrill Lynch, marking a return to the brokerage firm Mr. Zimmerman worked for before it was owned by Bank of America Corp. Mr. Zimmerman rejoined Merrill Lynch in Boston in early May, taking with him Edward Nabhan, his son Alexander Nabhan, Megan Cooney and James McIntyre. The team manages about $1.2 billion in client assets. “Through Andy's past experience as an adviser at Merrill, they knew that the best place for them was here,” Chris Bettencourt, Merrill's market executive for the Boston Financial Center, said in a statement Wednesday. (Related: See details on other recent moves in the Advisers on the Move database) Mr. Zimmerman worked for Merrill from February 1990 to January 2008, when he joined Morgan Stanley, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's BrokerCheck. Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch in January 2009, about three months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. deepened the worst recession since the Great Depression. Bank of America agreed to the deal in September 2008 as Wall Street was reeling from the financial crisis. Christine Jockle, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley, declined to comment on the team's departure.