JPMorgan turns heads after signing powerhouse $28B team from Merrill

JPMorgan Chase's wealth management unit has signed on a Merrill Lynch advisor team that managed $28 billion in client assets, potentially marking the largest advisor recruiting move in wealth management history.

Reportedly generating $10 million in annual revenue, the powerhouse the Gray-Polverini team is led by Eric Gray and Lance Polverini. They have joined J.P. Morgan Wealth Management in Los Angeles, bringing along their expertise in serving ultra-high-net-worth clients.

The more senior veteran of the pair, Gray boasts more than 30 years of industry experience, joining Merrill Lynch in 2000 after a stint at Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile, Polverini began his career at Merrill Lynch in 2007, which also marked the start of his record in the industry.

A nationally recognized top advisor who's been featured on both Forbes and Barron's, Gray leads a team that caters to an exclusive clientele of around 51 households, with an average account size of $50 million, placing them comfortably in the UHNW range.

His team, including investment associate Drew Sapede and client associates Irma Deluna, will report to David Berger, market leader for the company’s southwest region.

“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.

The US wealth space is certainly dynamic with news of advisor teams switching firms breaking almost daily, and migrations of $1 billion books and above are common enough. But movements on the next order of magnitude, $10 billion plus, is exceedingly rare.

The one move that came closest to that last year was when a heavyweight team managing $5.5 billion left UBS to join RBC Wealth Management in Columbus, Ohio. The weeks after that saw an exodus of several more advisor groups from UBS to RBC, including another Ohio-based team overseeing $1.1 billion in assets and one group that managed $1 billion in Kansas.

JPMorgan’s latest hire aligns with its strategy to expand its wealth management unit serving high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth clients. The company is the largest bank in the US by deposits and one of its biggest wealth managers, operating a global private bank, brokerage unit, and thousands of financial advisors in its Chase branches.

"Eric and Lance have a long, proven record of providing exceptional service to their clients," said 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," said Phil Sieg, CEO of J.P. Morgan Advisors.

The new addition may also help JPMorgan offset recent advisor losses after six teams managing nearly $15 billion in total assets left the brokerage unit for competitors last month, including two former First Republic teams managing a collective $5 billion and a $5 billion plus team that switched over to Citizens Financial Group.