By Andrew Welsch
Merrill notched one recruiting win to start the year, but lost an even bigger team to Wells Fargo.
On the winning side of the ledger, the wealth management unit of Bank of America hired three former UBS advisors: Robert Procaccianti, Jared Tack, and Doug Bennet. The trio signed on with Merrill in Providence, R.I. They oversaw $805 million in client assets while at UBS, according to Merrill. Moving with them is registered wealth management client associate Stephanie Mondro.
Procaccianti is returning to Merrill, having worked at the wealth management firm from 2000 to 2008, according to BrokerCheck, a public database maintained by industry self-regulatory organization Finra. He moved to UBS in 2008. Tack started his career at the Swiss bank in 2017, according to BrokerCheck. Bennet had worked at UBS since 1995.
Going in the other direction was an 11-person team that oversaw more than $1.8 billion in assets. The Melville, N.Y.-based group, called Infinity Private Wealth, joined Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, the company's independent broker-dealer. The team is led by Gianluca Palermo and Nicholas Frangas.
Palermo, an advisor with 19 years experience, had worked at Merrill since 2015. Frangas did two stints at Merrill from 2015 until this week and from 2007 to 2012, according to BrokerCheck. In between, he worked at J.P. Morgan Securities.
Spokeswomen for both Merrill and UBS declined to comment. Merrill and UBS have both lost large advisor teams over the past year. In November, Wells Fargo recruited a Merrill team that oversaw $3 billion in assets.
Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com
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January 07, 2026 15:45 ET (20:45 GMT)
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