Raymond James Financial Inc has expanded its adviser force in Georgia with a veteran hire from top U.S. brokerage Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, the company said on Wednesday.
_0">Adviser Cynthia Woodsmall Jones, who managed more than $435 million in client assets at Morgan Stanley, moved to Raymond James in May after more than three decades with her former firm. She had an annual production of more than $1 million.
Jones joined Raymond James & Associates, the company's traditional employee broker-dealer division. She was joined by registered sales associate Brenda Meadows, also from Morgan Stanley, and is based in the firm's Columbus, Georgia, office.
Jones specializes in asset management for high-net-worth individuals and families and advises on corporate retirement assets, including 401(k) plans. She started her career in 1981 at Robinson-Humphrey & Co, staying with the firm through a series of mergers and acquisitions before joining Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, majority-owned by Morgan Stanley, formed from the merger of Morgan Stanley's wealth unit and Citigroup Inc's Smith Barney in 2009. It is the largest U.S. brokerage by adviser headcount and client assets.
Morgan Stanley confirmed Jones' departure, but declined to comment further.
St. Petersburg, Florida-based Raymond James also has an independent broker-dealer division in the United States and smaller brokerage units in Canada and Britain.
With its broker-dealer subsidiaries, Raymond James had 6,297 advisers and representatives who managed $406.8 billion of client assets as of the end of March.
(Reporting by Ashley Lau in New York; editing by Matthew Lewis)