Merrill reels in $3 billion team

Bank of America Merrill Lynch hauled in $3 billion in assets from two advisers working at competitors UBS Wealth Management and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. The two, Howard Rowen and Halsey Smith, join Merrill Lynch's private banking and investment group, which has around 150 adviser teams that cater to clients with $10 million or more in investible assets. (See also: Wirehouses warm to bank channel recruits) Mr. Rowen and Mr. Smith join as a team operating in the Los Angeles office. Both had spent time working together at Alex. Brown & Sons Inc., which was bought by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Mr. Rowen moved to UBS in 2007, according to registration records with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. Bank of America spokeswoman Ana Katherine Sollitto did not provide individual revenue or production numbers but said that both advisers had generated well over $1 million in fees and commissions in the previous 12 months at their prior firms. They will report to Michael Rogers, regional managing director at Merrill Lynch's PBIG group.