Fired $1.3B Merrill broker finds new home at RBC

Bank of America Merrill Lynch's former top broker in Indiana, who was abruptly fired March 4 after an investigation by the firm, has found a new home. Thomas Buck, who had previously managed some $1.3 billion in assets, has joined RBC Wealth Management U.S. in Indianapolis, according to registration records with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. He will be joined by his daughter, Ann Buck, who resigned following her father's termination. RBC had already nabbed another group in November from the same Merrill Lynch office in Indianapolis, when it hired Daniel Thompson, Matt Rittenhouse and Alyson Frantz, who had managed some $103 million in client assets. Mr. Buck will be operating in the same branch as that team, according to registration records. Merrill Lynch terminated Mr. Buck, a 33-year veteran of the firm, just over a month ago after a number of allegations that resulted in “management's loss of confidence,” according to a U5 filing with regulators. The conduct leading to his termination included “failing to discuss service level and pricing alternatives with a customer, providing inaccurate information to firm management during account reviews regarding this issue, mismarking bond cross-trade order tickets as unsolicited, and providing information to a client during an active account review that did not correspond to the firm's records,” according to the U5. An RBC spokeswoman, Nichole Garrison, said the firm was pleased to hire Mr. Buck and his team. They have “a long history in this industry, and solid reputation of providing excellent client service,” she wrote in an email. RBC, which is based in Minneapolis, Minn., had around $270 billion in assets under management at the end of last year, according to the firm's annual report. It has been seeking to expand since the acquisition of City National Corp., whose chief executive now heads the combined wealth management group.