RBC Wealth Management grabs $1.2B team from Merrill Lynch

RBC Wealth Management, the Royal Bank of Canada's investment advisory and brokerage division, has nabbed two Merrill Lynch financial advisers with $1.2 billion in assets under administration. Dodd Newton Koeckert, who has 31 years of experience in the industry, and Nicholas H. Anger, who has 11, are joined by senior registered client associates Carolyn E. Valvano and Pamela A. Kamen. They will join RBC Wealth Management's Stamford, Conn., branch. Both Mr. Koeckert and Mr. Anger had been with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. in New York for their whole careers. Mr. Koeckert started at Merrill Lynch in October 1983 and Mr. Anger had worked there since October 2004, according to their BrokerCheck reports. "I would say, for this area in Stamford, it is one of the most significant hires the firm has made within the last seven to eight years," said Pat Vaughn, east divisional director at RBC Wealth Management. "Any time you have the opportunity to pick up a quality team as these folks are, with the assets and quality of client base they have, it means a lot for the firm." Mr. Vaughn said the firm plans to continue expanding by seeking out other high-quality financial advisers. Merrill Lynch did not return a request for comment on the departures. Danny Sarch, president of Leitner Sarch Consultants in White Plains, N.Y., said a move of this size is not common, but such recruitment activity is happening more frequently. "There's a broad dissatisfaction with big firms' policies and procedures, Merrill Lynch being among them," Mr. Sarch said. His advice to big firms is simple: They should be "allowing their best advisers more entrepreneurial freedom." That means being flexible about hiring support staff or allowing advisers to charge clients the way they want to. Deborah Aronson, senior consultant at Diamond Consultants in Morristown, N.J., agreed that there is a growing discontent as the wirehouses increase in size, especially over the last few years. "As wirehouses have gotten bigger and more bureaucratic, it has become harder for advisers to get things done; and as far as sizable producers, those are the folks that value control," Ms. Aronson said. "Regional firms like RBC are becoming the more and more popular next step because what it gives them is a firm that is smaller and more nimble, with greater ease of doing business," she said.