Merrill Lynch Broker Team With $550 Million in Assets Resigns -- Wealth Manager
September 13 2016 - 01:07PM
Dow Jones News
By Veronica Dagher
Two Merrill Lynch brokers who managed $550 million in client
assets have resigned to launch a boutique advisory focused on
international clients, joining a number of small adviser groups to
leave big firms to offer more specialized services.
Advisers Elizabeth van Walleghem and Thomas J. Butler III on
Tuesday officially launched Maximai Investment Partners in Coral
Gables, Fla. The firm is focused on ultra-high-net worth
entrepreneurs and families from Latin America, Europe, the
Caribbean and elsewhere.
Ms. van Walleghem had been at Merrill, now a unit of Bank of
America Corp., since 1992. Mr. Butler worked at Merrill for 28
years.
A Merrill spokeswoman confirmed the departures.
About two years ago, the advisers started to search for another
platform to serve clients. Many of their clients had been asking
when they were going to start their own firm, Ms. van Walleghem
says, largely because they desired more investment options.
The advisers determined that by going independent, they would
have more flexibility to meet clients' needs. "The world is our
oyster now as opposed to being limited by the boundary of four
walls," Ms. van Walleghem said.
Last summer, Merrill trimmed its international effort to focus
on 29 target countries, primarily Canada and in Latin America, and
it curtailed brokers' ability to travel outside the U.S. The
company also announced that brokers who serve international clients
would work as part of a specialized team and it raised the minimum
account size that those overseas clients need to work with a
Merrill broker.
Ms. van Walleghem says those policies played a role in the
advisers' decision to move. At Merrill, the advisers said they had
a $2.5 million or $5 million account minimum for new clients
depending on the country. Their new firm has a $1 million minimum,
Ms. van Walleghem says.
Ms. van Walleghem will work primarily with clients from
Venezuela, Peru, Chile, the Caribbean and Europe. Mr. Butler will
focus on the firm's clients from Mexico, Central America and
Brazil.
Also joining the advisers are three Merrill Lynch employees.
They are launching the firm with the support of Dynasty Financial
Partners, a New York-based firm that provides independent adviser
teams access to a platform for trading, clearing, research and
other support services.
Ms. van Walleghem says the advisers chose to work with Dynasty
after hearing success stories from other international advisers who
had left brokerage firms and gone independent. "Knowing other
similar advisers who made the move made me feel confident we could
do it, too," she says.
Write to Veronica Dagher at veronica.dagher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 13, 2016 12:52 ET (16:52 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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