By Michael Wursthorn
Morgan Stanley recently hired five financial advisers who had
managed more than $565 million in client assets at rival firms.
The newly hired advisers include Thomas Forma and Kevin Nichols,
previously with Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch where
together they managed assets of more than $300 million, according
to a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman.
The pair joined the firm's West Hartford, Conn., office on
Friday.
Mr. Forma, who joined Morgan Stanley as a senior institutional
consultant, had been with Merrill Lynch since 1982 and was one of
the firm's advisers focused on institutional clients with more than
$50 million in assets.
Mr. Nichols, meanwhile, had worked at Merrill Lynch since 2011
and specialized in high net-worth clients and family offices,
according to his LinkedIn profile. He was hired as a senior
investment management consultant, the Morgan Stanley spokeswoman
said.
A Merrill Lynch spokeswoman confirmed the departures but
declined to comment further.
Morgan Stanley's other hires include Michael Zalkind and John
Williams, of the Zalkind and Williams team, from J.P. Morgan Chase
& Co.'s private-banking branch, Chase Private Client. Together,
they had combined production of $2.1 million and managed $175
million in client assets, the Morgan Stanley spokeswoman said.
Both started at Morgan Stanley on Oct. 14 in the firm's
Aventura, Fla., office after leaving J.P. Morgan, where they had
been since 2009.
A J.P. Morgan spokeswoman declined to comment on the move.
The New York firm said it also hired Robert Phelps, a former UBS
Wealth Management adviser had more than $1 million in production
and managed $90 million in client assets. He started on Friday,
too, in the firm's downtown Louisville, Ky., office, said the
firm's spokeswoman.
He had been with UBS since 2000, joining the firm following its
acquisition of J.C. Bradford & Co. that year. A UBS spokesman
declined to discuss Mr. Phelps' move, saying the firm doesn't
comment on departures.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires