RBC Wealth lures $1.1B advisory team from UBS to expand presence in Ohio

RBC Wealth Management lured a team of financial advisors away from UBS in order to establish a new branch office in Columbus, Ohio.

The addition of James Ford & Duble Wealth Partners, which managed $1.1 billion in client assets at UBS, gives RBC Wealth Management an expanded presence in the Great Lakes region. The firm, which is a division of RBC Capital Markets, has $515 billion in total client assets.

This is RBC Wealth Management’s third office in Ohio, with the others located in Toledo and Cleveland. The firm employs 2,100 financial advisors working in 187 branches across 42 states.

“We’re very excited to open an RBC Wealth Management branch in Columbus, as it grows the firm’s reach in Ohio and enables us to serve more clients,” Frank Albanese, the Great Lakes Complex director at RBC Wealth Management, said in a statement. “James Ford & Duble Wealth Partners has a long and successful history in this area.”

Managing director William James II will lead the Columbus branch. James II spent the past 11 years with UBS and has 29 years of industry experience, according to BrokerCheck. He’s joined by senior vice president Patrick Ford, who joined UBS four years ago after 31 years with Merrill Lynch, and vice president Anastasia Duble, who has spent her entire nine-year career as an advisor with UBS.

The firm also includes three support staffers.