Merrill Hires from Wells Fargo, MSSB

Bank of America (BAC.N) Merrill Lynch has recruited three former Wells Fargo advisers and one former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney adviser to join its California, Connecticut and Wyoming offices, the firm said late on Monday.

The four advisers generated a combined revenue of almost $4 million over the past year.

Two of the four advisers will team up in Casper, Wyoming.

Scott Brownell and Neal Burgess spent more than a decade with Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) before moving to Merrill Lynch. The two produced a combined $1.4 million in revenue over the past year and have about $174 million in assets under management.

We're very excited about it over here, Brownell said in an interview on Tuesday. The research here is much stronger and the operating platform is more user-friendly... Just from the service perspective, there's less middle management here.

Brownell said he and Burgess were approached by a couple of different firms before deciding to go with Merrill Lynch in September. The two had been considering the move for the past four months.

James Watts, a Wells Fargo veteran of 14 years, left for Merrill Lynch's Mill Valley, California, office earlier this month.

Watts produced $1.5 million in revenue over the past year and has $216 million in assets under management. He has been registered with Merrill since last Wednesday.

Also on the move, adviser Michael Cirullo, most recently with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, has joined Merrill Lynch's Hartford, Connecticut office. He previously spent almost two decades with Citigroup (C.N).

Cirullo generated $1 million in revenue last year and has about $143.5 million in assets under management. He has been registered with Merrill since last Friday.