CEO of Cantor's wealth unit to depart

Stanley Gregor, who joined Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. in 2013 to help the Wall Street firm branch out into wealth management and launch Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth Partners, is leaving the firm in coming weeks, according to several sources familiar with the move. The reasons for his departure were not immediately clear. A spokeswoman for the firm, Sheryl Lee, declined to either confirm or deny Mr. Gregor's departure, citing company policy not to comment on personnel matters. Mr. Gregor, a former wealth management executive with Wells Fargo & Co., is president of Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth Partners and shares chief executive duties with Shawn Matthews, CEO of the unit's parent company, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. The company intends to continue growing the wealth unit under Mr. Matthews' oversight, according to a source familiar with the company's plans. Since its launch, Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth Partners has hired about six teams and has offices in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Its assets under advisement, which includes assets under management, are around $4.5 billion. The firm, which is seen as a possible competitor to HighTower Advisors and other independent partnership firms looking to capture top wirehouse brokers, said last year it wanted to bring in as many as 300 advisers in the next three to six years. In February last year, Mr. Gregor told InvestmentNews that the firm was “in a very aggressive acquisition mode.” The last announced recruitment of an adviser was almost a year ago, however, according to the firm's website. In July, Cantor brought in a registered investment adviser, Capital Planning Advisor Group, which managed $120 million in assets in Yardley, Pa. It was the sixth team to join the firm since September 2013. The source familiar with the company said the firm expects recruiting to pick up. In September, Cantor hired two former Merrill Lynch recruiters to help expand headcount. More recently, it brought in a former wirehouse team in Michigan, although the hire has not been officially announced, according to the source.