September 29, 2021
A pair of former brokers-turned-advisors in Columbus, Ohio have damaged away for the second time in a 12 months to launch their very own follow underneath Parsippany, N.J.-based RIA Summit Monetary.
The brand new follow, dubbed Advocus Personal Wealth, is led by Steve C. Vujevich and Matthew P. Anderson, ex-Merrill Lynch brokers who’ve left Chicago-based agency Keebeck Wealth Administration, a $1.6 billion-asset agency aligned with RIA service supplier Dynasty Monetary Companions.
The Advocus crew had managed $400 million in shopper property, in line with Summit Progress Companions, a financing arm of Summit Monetary that took a minority stake within the new agency.
“We got here to appreciate that our preliminary transfer to independence didn’t present the superb stage of sources and assist that we anticipated, and our shoppers deserved,” Vujevich had stated in a ready assertion touting the monetary planning and know-how choices Summit provided.
A spokeswoman for Dynasty didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the departures or Vujevich’s remarks.
Vujevich and Anderson had joined Keebeck in June 2020, the identical month Vujevich was permitted to resign from Merrill after issues associated to “partaking in undisclosed outdoors enterprise exercise,” in line with registration information. The 2 had dropped their brokerage licenses upon shifting to Keebeck, in line with their information.
“We meant to depart earlier within the 12 months, however the pandemic modified these plans, requiring us to depart later than meant,” Vujevich stated in an e-mail concerning his Merrill exit. He declined to touch upon whether or not the surface enterprise exercise allegation associated to his intentions to affix the Chicago RIA.
Vujevich and Anderson are joined at their new Summit follow by fellow Keebeck advisor Charles D. Robinson, who will work out of Advocus’ second workplace in Charlotte, N.C., however isn’t a founding accomplice, in line with Summit’s Wednesday announcement. The three had registered with Summit in early June, in line with information on the Securities and Alternate Fee’s Funding Adviser Public Disclosure website.
Keebeck Wealth Administration is led by Bruce Keebeck Lee, a former star non-public wealth dealer at Merrill whose personal exit from the wirehouse in 2018 got here after allegations about his gaming obligatory compliance coaching necessities. He was suspended the next 12 months by the Monetary Trade Regulatory Authority, which discovered that two of his associates had taken exams for him.
Lee, through the Dynasty spokeswoman, declined a separate request for remark despatched to him through social media.
The Advocus crew had realized after going impartial that they wanted “a stronger assist and repair mannequin,” Summit Monetary CEO Stan Gregor, who didn’t reply to a request for remark, stated in a ready assertion within the agency’s press launch. The duo additionally stated they’d been attracted by the chance to monetize a portion of their follow by promoting a stake to SGP.
Summit, together with one its backers Service provider Funding Administration, fashioned SGP in January. (Service provider, a serial RIA investor, took a minority stake in Summit Monetary, which oversees a complete of $4.1 billion in property, in August of 2018.)
Advocus makes use of Summit Monetary’s SummitVantage, a turnkey asset administration program, or Tamp, in addition to Addepar Inc., for efficiency reporting, Salesforce Inc. for shopper relationship administration, and Constancy’s eMoney Advisor for monetary planning, in line with Summit’s announcement.
The brand new follow is custodying with Schwab Advisor Providers and Pershing, in line with its web site. Keebeck had really useful the identical custodians in its ADV brochure filed with the SEC.
Vujevich, with 22 years in monetary companies, had joined Merrill in 2000 after a three-year stint with Signator Buyers, in line with his BrokerCheck report.
Anderson, who has 11 years of business expertise, joined Merrill in 2012 and had beforehand logged a one-and-a-half-year stint with UBS Wealth Administration from 2003 into 2004, in line with his BrokerCheck report.
Robinson, a 15-year dealer, began with Edward Jones in 2005, moved to Ameriprise Monetary Providers the next 12 months and to NFP Securities in 2009, in line with his BrokerCheck. In 2013, he registered as a dealer with LPL Monetary and impartial advisor with Cornerstone Wealth however dropped his brokerage license in 2017, and moved to Keebeck in August 2020, in line with his BrokerCheck report and the SEC’s IAPD database.
With the Advocus deal, Summit Progress Companions has taken minority stakes in 17 companies, in line with the announcement.
Dynasty, which additionally offers entry to financing and stated in Might it could start providing non-controlling minority investments in its accomplice companies, final week onboarded its fourth RIA accomplice of the 12 months–an $8.Eight million-producing Merrill crew that broke away in Colorado.