First Republic continues to add advisers

The bank saw a net increase of 109 financial advisers in the five years from 2016 to 2020, according to InvestmentNews Research.

First Republic Bank added four teams of financial advisers during the second quarter for a total of seven teams this year, according to the company’s earnings report released Tuesday.

The bank’s wealth management group reported $240.9 billion in wealth management assets at the end of June, an increase of 54.6% from a year earlier, when it reported $155.8 billion in assets.

“The increases in wealth management assets were due to both net client inflow and market appreciation,” the company said in a statement.

Recent hires to First Republic Investment Management include Terance Takyi in June from J.P. Morgan Securities in New York and Scott Grenert and Kevin MacIntyre in May in Boston and also previously employed by J.P. Morgan Securities.

The bank over the past decade has been a significant destination for wirehouse advisers looking to leave Wall Street for a smaller firm and also get paid a significant bonus to do so. The bank will pay on the high end of bonuses for financial advisers in markets it is looking to expand, recruiters said.

First Republic Bank was part of Merrill Lynch when Bank of America Corp. took over the firm during the credit crisis in 2010; Bank of America later sold First Republic to a group of private investors who then took it public.

According to the company, the bank’s wealth management group had $16.6 billion in assets at the end of 2010 compared to $240.9 billion at the end of June, a compound annual growth rate of 29%.

And according to InvestmentNews Research, First Republic Securities, where its advisers are registered, saw a net increase of 109 financial advisers in the five years from 2016 to 2020, an average of adding almost 22 advisers per year.