Merrill snags $500 million team from UBS

Three former UBS Wealth Management Americas advisers who managed some $500 million in client assets have jumped ship to join Bank of America Merrill Lynch's private banking group. Kanwar Singh, Rajeev Rathi and Steve Coleman moved to Merrill Lynch's Private Banking and Investment Group in Chicago last week, according to firm spokeswoman Susan Atran. They formerly brought in around $5 million in annual revenue for UBS, according to Ms. Atran. (See all of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's latest adviser hires in the Advisers on the Move database.) The Private Banking and Investment Group comprises around 150 teams who focus on ultra-wealthy clients, usually with at least $10 million in investible assets. Mr. Singh had been registered with UBS Financial Services Inc. since 2005, according to BrokerCheck records with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. He began his career in 2003 with the Chicago Analytic Trading Co. Mr. Rathi had also been with UBS since 2005, but began at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. in 1995. Mr. Coleman began at CIBC World Markets Corp. in 2001 and joined UBS Financial Services Inc. in 2003. The three joined as Merrill Lynch reported last week it had added some 155 brokers in the third quarter. Overall, the firm has 14,000 brokers and advisers, including newly hired trainees.