Janney signs more wirehouse advisers

Philadelphia-based regional brokerage Janney Montgomery Scott LLC landed another large team of wirehouse advisers last Friday. Peter Sampson, Kenneth Wiland Sr., and R. Morgan Purvis, as well as two assistants, joined the firm's Aiken, S.C., office from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, where they managed a combined $380 million. The firm did not release figures for the advisers' production. The signing comes just weeks after the firm landed Peter Sargent, a Merrill Lynch Wealth Management adviser based in Yardley, Pa. Mr. Sargent managed $250 million and had trailing-12-month production of more than $2 million. Jerry Lombard, president of Janney's private-client unit, said his recruiting pipeline is filled with other wirehouse advisers, and he expects to sign on more brokers fleeing the large Wall Street firms this year. “In the last four years, 90% of our hires have been from the wirehouses, and recently, we've seen a step up in the size of hires we're making here,” he said. Mr. Lombard said about 70% of his firm's hires are sourced by branch managers, and the other 30% are advisers who reach out to the firm themselves. Janney occasionally receives referrals from executive recruiters. He plans to keep Janney focused on the Eastern Seaboard, where the bulk of the firm's 725 advisers practice. The firm currently manages $54 billion in assets. “We don't want to expand out ahead of our supply lines,” said Mr. Lombard, who has been with the firm since 1984. “We'd rather fill out our existing footprint before we move into new markets.” Mr. Lombard said Wall Street will continue to be the firm's favorite hunting grounds for financial advisers. “As the wirehouse retention bonuses run off and the calculus of being owned by a bank comes into play, we'll continue to see a lot of movement out of the wirehouses and into the regional and independent brokerage channels,” he said. MSSB spokeswoman Christy Pollack confirmed that the advisers are no longer with the firm. The trio declined to comment about their move.