The shake-up in the advice market is gathering pace.

Street Talk understands Shaw and Partners has hired three advisers from Macquarie Group – Vaughan James and Michael Watt in Melbourne and Graham Kaplan in Sydney. Kaplan was part of the cohort cut from Macquarie’s banking and financial services arm in late October.

Shaws has been on a tear this year, picking off almost 20 Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Australia advisers last month who together oversee some $3 billion in total assets. It is understood the renegades are set to join its Melbourne and Perth offices.

The stockbroker has also added two Ord Minnett advisers – Owen Clare and Karl Laufmann – to its Perth office, and Macquarie Private Wealth veteran Scott Ayres.

While some movement between wealth houses is to be expected, the moves out of Morgan Stanley are raising eyebrows. 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 lower-value accounts being hived off to rival firms in a bid to pivot the business towards high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients. In short, if you don’t bring in the dough, you’re out. The review also came on the back of instability that had seen long-time chief Ian Chambers retire and a raft of senior figures depart.

At Macquarie, the wealth division is undergoing a restructure as the bank’s business priorities and customer demands shift, and it looks to manage costs. Sources told this column that head of the private bank division, Justin Crawford, cited cost management and poor performance in other areas of the business in layoff meetings.

Article source: AFR, 11 December 2023