By Michael Wursthorn 

Merrill Lynch has hired two more financial advisers from Barclays PLC's U.S. wealth-management unit.

The firm said Tuesday afternoon that advisers Peter Kong and John Shaw joined its ultra-high-net-worth team, known as the Private Banking and Investment Group, in San Francisco. That team typically handles clients with $10 million or more in investible assets.

Together, the two advisers generated roughly $6 million in fees and commissions annually, a Merrill spokeswoman said. She declined to provide the amount of client assets managed by the pair.

A Barclays spokesman didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the departure.

Merrill has added 16 Barclays advisers since the London-based bank agreed in June to sell its U.S. wealth-management operation to Stifel. Those advisers, including Messrs. Kong and Shaw, have been choosing to accept deals to join rival firms instead of joining Stifel, which is offering to pay Barclays advisers 150% of their last 12 months of production in exchange for their employment.

Brokerage recruiters have said that they expect most of Barclays's advisers to express their intent to join Stifel ahead of the deal's expected close in November, thanks to an equities credit distribution agreement between the two companies. However, those recruiters have also said some brokers may be tempted by rival firms' big signing bonuses, sometimes more than double what Stifel is offering.

Merrill isn't the only firm to benefit from the Barclays defections. Earlier on Monday, a half dozen Barclays advisers formed a more than $3 billion independent practice, known as Summit Trail Advisors, with the support of Dynasty Financial Partners. And Morgan Stanley recently announced the addition of one Barclays adviser who managed $1 billion in client assets.

(Street Moves chronicles the migration of executives on Wall Street, with a particular emphasis on financial advisers with more than $1 million in annual production and those who manage more than $100 million in client assets.)

Write to Michael Wursthorn at michael.wursthorn@wsj.com

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