August 16, 2021
Provo, Utah.
A large Merrill Lynch workforce in Provo, Utah, led by the state’s top-ranked monetary advisor, has departed the wirehouse for rival Morgan Stanley, in keeping with sources accustomed to the transfer.
Dane Runia, who ranked 1st on Forbes’ 2021 record of “Finest-in-State” wealth advisors and on Monetary Planning’s 2021 “High 40 Below 40” record, joined Morgan Stanley on Monday alongside together with his workforce, The Runia Group, which had been a part of Merrill’s Non-public Wealth Administration arm for ultra-wealthy prospects.
Runia, who joined his father at Merrill in 2006 after graduating from Brigham Younger College, oversaw roughly $2.95 billion in consumer belongings and generated almost $10.7 million in annual income, in keeping with registration information and the Monetary Planning record. He didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched through social media.
A spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley confirmed the rent however declined additional remark.
The Runia workforce’s transfer marks one other big-name departure from the Thundering Herd, which stopped hiring seasoned brokers in 2017 in favor of in-house development packages. It comes after Merrill President Andy Sieg mentioned final month he’s targeted on the problem of “aggressive attrition.” In one other massive personal wealth transfer, Merrill final month noticed an $11.2-million personal wealth workforce in New York Metropolis head to UBS.
A Merrill spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for touch upon attrition or the Runia workforce’s transfer.
Runia’s father, R. Scott Runia, a 36-year lifer at Merrill who retired in 2019 via Merrill’s Consumer Transition Program, can also be anticipated to rejoin the workforce at Morgan Stanley, in keeping with a supply near the workforce.
The elder Runia had left Merrill as a way to serve a three-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia, Dane Runia mentioned in a 2019 interview with Monetary Planning. Scott couldn’t be reached for touch upon his plans or whether or not any non-compete agreements he had signed within the CTP stay in impact.
Runia’s workforce at Merrill included three consumer associates, an funding administration specialist and a senior enterprise supervisor, in keeping with the previous workforce’s webpage.
“Our workforce has been with Merrill since 1982 – a continuity that heightens our effectiveness in getting issues accomplished,” Dane Runia wrote on his LinkedIn profile. “We’re expert in anticipating the problems that enterprise house owners, entrepreneurs, executives, skilled athletes, and nonprofit establishments encounter.”
The transfer additionally underscores Morgan Stanley’s aggressive hiring, bolstered by affords that recruiters have mentioned attain 325% of trailing-12 income for high expertise, together with upfront and deferred bonuses.
A lot of Morgan Stanley’s current recruiting wins have come at Merrill’s expense, together with a 27-year lifer in Washington D.C. who had led a $4.5 million-producing workforce with a inventory plan focus, and a $3-million workforce led by a producing supervisor in Sea Girt, New Jersey.
In the meantime, Merrill has been strengthening its consumer retention efforts, together with looking for momentary restraining orders in opposition to defecting brokers and deploying groups of “consumer expertise specialists” to name prospects after their dealer exits to introduce them to a brand new Merrill new dealer and supply payment reductions.