By David Wignall

It was a big recruiting week for Merrill Lynch, which on Wednesday announced a string of high-profile hires. Those pickups include a large ex- UBS team and several individual advisors, who collectively managed roughly $1.6 billion of client assets.

Seven-member team Washington Wealth Management Group, which previously managed $800 million at UBS, will join Merrill's offices in Washington, D.C. The team is led by David Andreadis, an industry veteran with 33 years of experience. Before joining UBS in 2011, Andreadis worked stints at A.G. Edwards and Sons and Smith Barney, according to BrokerCheck, a database maintained by industry self-regulator Finra.

Washington Wealth isn't the only group leaving UBS for Merrill. The wealth management unit of Bank of America also recruited Gregory Shanaphy, a New Jersey-based advisor who previously managed $120 million in client assets at the Swiss bank. Shanaphy had been at UBS for 18 years.

Other recent hires include:

   -- John O'Neil, a New Jersey-based advisor who previously managed $260 
      million in client assets at J.P. Morgan. 
 
   -- Rodney Ruh, an Omaha, Neb.-based advisor who managed $160 million. 
 
   -- Daniel Rogowski of Palm Beach, Fla., who advised $100 million in client 
      assets at an RIA. 

The new hires continue a recruiting hot streak for Merrill, which last week reported increases in revenue, assets under management, and the number of ultrawealthy clients it served. On an earnings call, Eric Schimpf, co-head of Merrill, said the firm's recruiting efforts are strong and the attrition rate of older advisors was "well below" its historical average.

The loss of Washington Wealth and Gregory Shanaphy is more bad news for UBS, which has lost several billion-dollar teams in recent months. In January, UBS executives warned that the bank could experience a spike in attrition following changes to its advisor compensation plan. The new plan eliminated a lucrative bonus that previously benefited large teams.

Write to advisor.editors@barrons.com

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July 25, 2025 15:51 ET (19:51 GMT)

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