$3b-a-year Morgan Stanley Wealth advisers depart en masse

afr.com:

Almost 20 private wealth advisers, who together oversee some $3 billion in total assets, walked out Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Australia’s doors on Friday.

It is understood the renegade group are set to join the Melbourne and Perth offices of rival stockbroking and wealth management firm Shaw and Partners.

“These advisers are some of the most respected in our industry and felt clients relationships come before yearly fee minimum’s and the like,” Shaws’ co-chief executive Earl Evans told Street Talk on Sunday.

Earl Evans (right) and Allan Zion are co-chief executives at Shaw and Partners. 

“One has to respect those values, and we are thrilled to welcome them to Shaw and Partners which has become the place of choice for first class advisory practitioners over the last decade.”

Sources told this column Joe Di Fede, Geoff Lloyd, Jeanette Brookes, Freya Gunn and Simon Conner were among those advisers from MSWM who hit the pavement on Friday, and are expected to join Shaws’ Melbourne team.

Then there’s Renato Ciancio-Pedretti, Timothy Maschler, Damien Warner, Rachael Tegart, Jenny Rachmat, Stuart Beattie, Mark Palmer and Andrew Foster, all of whom are destined for Shaws’ Perth outpost.

Shaw and Partners has around 185 advisers who manage close to $40 billion in assets. It is run by Evans and co-CEO, Allan Zion, and was established around 40 years ago.

The well-regarded Rebecca Hill was installed as head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Australia following the departure of co-head Matthew Nicholls in May, and had sought to stabilise the 90-strong team of advisers.

However, as Street Talk reported, MSWM staff expressed unhappiness following a Hill-led strategic review which resulted in the bulk of the division’s