Morgan Stanley snags elite Merrill Lynch team in Utah

A top ranked Merrill Lynch & Co. veteran adviser, Dane Runia, on Monday jumped to competitor Morgan Stanley & Co.

Runia and his eight-person team are based in Provo, Utah, and worked with $3.2 billion in client assets and 85 households, according to recent data published by Barron's. He started with Merrill Lynch in 2006, according to his BrokerCheck report.

A spokesperson for Merrill Lynch declined to comment; a spokesperson for Morgan Stanley confirmed Runia's hiring, but declined to comment any further.

Runia was the leading-ranked adviser in Utah this year, according to Barron's most recent survey. He became registered with Morgan Stanley on Monday, per his BrokerCheck profile.

While the company a few years ago backed away from recruiting advisers from direct competitors like Merrill Lynch because of the high costs of bonuses for advisers, recently it has returned to the market for top advisers like Runia and his team.

According to InvestmentNews' data, Morgan Stanley has had total gains of 352 financial advisers year to date, and a net gain of 68, which takes into account the number of advisers that have left the firm.