RBC Wealth Management expands with $640M Merrill Lynch team

RBC Wealth Management has strengthened its presence in New Jersey by adding a veteran financial advisor and his team to its Paramus office.

The firm announced Friday that it’s welcomed The Callot Wealth Management Group, previously affiliated with Merrill Lynch. The former wirehouse group is bringing over approximately $640 million in client assets.

The new team at RBC Wealth Management includes:

• David Callot, managing director and financial advisor;
• T. Chris Braun, associate financial advisor;
• Jon Schulz, investment associate;
• Evan Levitsky, senior financial associate; and
• Patricia Kramer, senior client associate.

“We feel that RBC Wealth Management is the right place for our team because of its global capabilities and supportive, yet entrepreneurial, culture,” said Callot, who boasts 32 years of experience earned at Merrill Lynch.

“The Callot Wealth Management Group is a highly sophisticated team of financial professionals, and their dedication to clients aligns perfectly with our firm’s values,” said Steve Ornstein, North Jersey complex director for RBC Wealth Management, whom the team will be reporting to.

RBC Wealth Management’s latest addition comes several weeks after a nearly $1 billion team from Truist joined its advisory network in Virginia.

The Callot team are also arriving at an interesting time for RBC Wealth Management’s broader organization. On Thursday, Royal Bank of Canada, its parent in the North, unveiled a plan to shake up its executive leadership following RBC’s acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada earlier this year.

Among the changes effective September 1, Doug Guzman, the current group head of RBC Wealth Management and Insurance, will take on the role of RBC’s deputy chair. Neil McLaughlin, currently group head of Personal and Commercial Banking, will help fill the void Guzman leaves behind as the new group head of RBC Wealth Management.

Dave McKay, who has been with RBC since 1993 and took on the CEO role in 2014, indicated that he will stay to helm the ship as McLaughlin and other new executives get to grips with their responsibilities.

“I’m personally energized by the opportunity to work with these extraordinary leaders in the coming years as they take on new roles and responsibilities on our Group Executive leadership team,” McKay said in a statement announcing the move.