A Lake Forest, Ill.-based team of advisors, with about $2 billion in client assets, has left Merrill Lynch to join RBC Wealth Management. The team, led by managing directors Thomas Paulson and William “Tuck” Holman, and Steven Gatto, senior vice president, will run RBC’s new Lake Forest branch.
The Paulson Holman Gatto Group specializes in providing financial planning and asset management services for high-net-worth retirees. They are joined by Charles O’Neil, associate vice president and senior financial associate; Nadine Haufe, associate vice president and senior financial associate; Kristie A. Manheim, associate vice president and senior financial associate; Cynthia Mariscal, senior registered client associate; and Abra Alscher, client associate.
Paulson, Gatto and Holman were with Merrill for 12 years, and before that, they were at Morgan Stanley.
“We are excited to move our business to RBC Wealth Management, where the products, tools and integrated technology platform will allow us to best serve our clients and grow our practice,” said Paulson, in a statement. “It is also a great fit for our team culturally, and the continued investments RBC is making in its digital capabilities are impressive.”
This is the latest in a string of teams to leave Merrill Lynch. In mid-March, a Kenwood, Ohio–based team with more than $750 million in assets under management left Merrill for UBS Private Wealth Management.
Just last week, Merrill lost two teams to other firms. Jericho, N.Y.–based MMC Group, with $550 million in AUM, jumped ship for RBC Wealth Management, and San Antonio, Texas–based team JDK Wealth Advisors, with $400 million in AUM, left the wirehouse to join Sanctuary Wealth.
In early April, LPL recruited a team from Merrill with $650 million in AUM into its Strategic Wealth Services affiliation model.