Brokers depart Smith Barney for Robert W. Baird

Smith Barney has lost 15 advisers in the Baltimore area to Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. The brokers, who control slightly more than $1 billion in assets, joined on Friday before the long holiday weekend, which industry recruiters said was likely to be busy with representatives and advisers moving between firms. Earlier this month, New York-based Morgan Stanley bought control of Newe York-based Smith Barney, which had been the brokerage arm of beleaguered Citigroup Inc. of New York. The Baird brokers are part of a new office in Towson, Md., in the Baltimore suburbs. Milwaukee-based Baird said last year it wanted to expand in the region. Baird’s branch manager at the office is James E. Furletti, who left Smith Barney last summer. He and 14 of the new advisers were formerly with Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. of Baltimore, a retail broker-dealer that became part of Citigroup in 2006 in an asset swap.