Bank of America Merrill Lynch hires $330M Morgan Stanley duo

Bank of America Merrill Lynch hired Jeremy Newton and Stephen Lamb from Morgan Stanley to join the firm's Houston office earlier this month. Mr. Newton and Mr. Lamb had more than $330 million of client assets under management with $2.5 million in production last year, according to Susan Atran, a spokeswoman for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Their team will include Sean McCullough and Laura Philmon, who also joined from Morgan Stanley, as well as John Yambao, who was hired from Wells Fargo & Co., the spokeswoman said. For Mr. Newton, a certified financial planner, this is a return to his roots as a financial adviser. He started his career at Merrill Lynch in 2000, leaving the firm in 2008 to open an office for Morgan Stanley in downtown Houston. Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America Corp. at the beginning of 2009 as Wall Street was struggling amid the financial crisis. Christine Jockle, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley, confirmed the advisers' departures and declined further comment. Emily Acquisto, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, declined to comment. Mr. Lamb also started his career at Merrill Lynch, joining the brokerage firm in 1984. The Newton Lamb Group will report to Hong Ogle, a managing director and market executive. Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management had 14,533 financial advisers and nearly $2 trillion in client assets at the end of last year, according to the Ms. Atran.