About one-third of First Republic advisors have bolted since March

Financial advisors are reluctant to make a move and jump to a new firm, but since the regional banking crisis began in early March, First Republic Bank has seen an exodus of dozens of financial advisors, with its wealth management franchise having lost close to 33% of its advisor base.

That rush of financial advisor movement from First Republic was underscored Monday morning when executives at JPMorgan Chase & Co. revealed that about 150 financial advisors were currently working at First Republic's wealth management group. InvestmentNews had reported during the first quarter that First Republic Bank had hired a net gain of close to 230 financial advisors since 2010, when it was spun off from Bank of America. That figure of 230 financial advisors was based on 13 years of financial advisor moves tracked by the InvestmentNews Advisors on the Move database.

The announcement came after JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced early Monday that it had won the bidding to acquire First Republic Bank in an government-led intervention after private rescue efforts failed to fill a hole on the troubled lender’s balance sheet and customers yanked their deposits, according to Bloomberg News.

At the end of last year, First Republic Bank's wealth management group had $271.2 billion in customer assets. A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson declined to comment.

“Not surprisingly, we’ve had a number of advisors at First Republic reach out in an unsolicited basis over the past several weeks who are interested in joining JPMorgan," Jeremy Barnum, chief financial officer at JPMorgan Chase, said during a conference call with analysts Monday morning. "As a starting point, we think this is encouraging from a retention perspective.

“And then furthermore, there are still nearly 150 advisors with the firm, and we believe our brand, the investment platform, banking capabilities and research can make us the firm of choice for many of these advisors," Barnum said. "And we think JPMorgan is a great place to grow their practice and stay for the rest of their career."

Later in the call, he added that any recruiting deals First Republic had with financial advisors it had recently hired were to stay in place. First Republic was known over the past decade for being one of the most aggressive firms when it came to hiring financial advisors from banks and wirehouses.

In a twist, one of First Republic's top targets for recruiting advisors was J.P. Morgan Securities, according to InvestmentNews data; it recruited 40 financial advisors from J.P Morgan Securities since 2010.

According to JPMorgan Chase, First Republic’s private wealth management platform will become part of J.P. Morgan Advisors, and certain First Republic branches will be converted into new J.P. Morgan wealth centers.

InvestmentNews and other industry websites have reported on dozens of advisors leaving First Republic since early March.

Last month, a First Republic team of New York City-based financial advisors led by Adam Zipper and Joseph Duarte jumped to Morgan Stanley; the team works with $10.8 billion in total client assets. Also in April, Rockefeller Global Family Office said it had hired Liberty Wealth Partners, previously a First Republic Bank team, which manages $2.3 billion of client assets.

[More on First Republic News: Crack appears in First Republic wealth management business]