While Raymond James has primarily been focusing its efforts on retaining Morgan Keegan advisors, the regional firm managed to pick up a $200 million father-son team from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney this week. John Waszolek and his son Eric Waszolek have joined the Scottsdale, Ariz. office of the firm’s employee broker/dealer.
John Waszolek said he wanted to join a firm whose culture “recognizes and appreciates its employees and respects its shareholders’ investment.”
Together, the two produce more than $800,000 a year, Raymond James said.
The win is quite a pickup for Raymond James, given that the firm has been consumed by retention efforts of advisors from Morgan Keegan, which it is purchasing from Regions. But the deal is still expected to close April 2, and it looks as if the firm can give retention efforts a rest and shift its focus back to recruiting. The MSSB team is the first sign of that.
As of last week, the firm said 98 percent of Morgan Keegan advisors who were offered retention packages had accepted them. But that still leaves Morgan Keegan advisors who were not offered a retention package—those with under $300,000 in production. Of course, these lower producers are less desirable to begin with, so there's less incentive for Raymond James to convince them to stay.