Citi Private Bank, the private-banking unit of Citigroup Inc., continues its aggressive recruiting from U.S. Trust and has now lured a total of 10 bankers from the Bank of America unit since the end of April.
The firm announced today that in addition to seven other recent U.S. Trust hires, it has hired Heather Kirby and John Hilderbrandt as managing directors, and Charles Walker as a senior vice president, all three for the New York office. They will report to Leslie Bains, interim regional executive for the metro New York area.
Lauren Sambrotto, a spokeswoman for U.S. Trust, had no immediate comment, but in recent weeks, she has noted that U.S. Trust is also hiring aggressively. Indeed, just this week, U.S. Trust Corp., the private-banking arm of BofA, announced that it has hired five senior-level wealth management experts as part of the firm's bid to hire more than 200 advisers and bankers this year.
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The moves to Citi from U.S. Trust reflect a tight market for wealth management talent, but it may also be a sign that certain high-net-worth bankers prefer a firm that does not have a brokerage attached — one where they may have to share resources and clients with brokers, as Bank of America does with Merrill Lynch now, said Danny Sarch, president of Leitner Sarch Consultants Ltd.
“Citi is being seen as a new canvas, and since they're no longer attached to Smith Barney, you can argue there's a place there for U.S. Trust types,” Mr. Sarch said. “U.S. Trust, because of the competition with Merrill there, is being seen as more uncertain.”
Mr. Sarch also added that only recently, before it sold Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley, Citi Private was in the same situation that U.S. Trust finds itself in now.
“Two years ago, we could have been saying the same thing about Citi Private Bank, because the bankers there were constantly bumping into Smith Barney brokers,” he said.
Though Ms. Sambrotto declined to offer comment today, she has told
InvestmentNews recently that having a full suite of financial services — including brokerage operations — within Bank of America is an advantage for both clients and advisers. As for the competition for wealth managers, she noted recently, “it's a highly competitive market for top talent; we're hiring many, and we're losing some as well — it's the nature of the current market.”
