A team of Merrill Lynch advisers in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, whose senior member has been with the firm for more than 40 years, left last Friday to set up an independent firm. Herman Rij, who joined Merrill in 1971, and partners Jason Cort, Brian Cort and Kori Lannon - who is Herman Rij's daughter - have established Quadrant Private Wealth to manage the money of wealthy individuals, their businesses and charitable organizations primarily for fees rather than commissions. At Merrill, they managed between $900 million and $1 billion of client assets, said people familiar with their move who could not be quoted because the transfer has not been announced.A spokeswoman at Merrill, which is owned by Bank of America , confirmed they left the Bethlehem office but failed to comment on their assets or annual revenue.Calls to the partners were not immediately returned. Jason Cort has been with Merrill since 1997, Brian Cort since 2002 and Kori Lannon since 2008, according to regulatory records. At least one associate also left with the team, said a person at Merrill's Bethlehem office.Veteran financial advisers at traditional brokerage firms have been moving at a slow but steady pace in recent years to set up their own firms, making fee-based investment advisers the fastest growing "channel" within retail brokerage, according to consulting firm Cerulli Associates. Some leave because their former firms have raised the bar on the revenue they must earn, but successful advisers also have been moving to escape restrictions and bureaucracy associated with large firms, particularly those who were absorbed into much larger banks as a result of the financial crisis, or because they believe they can earn more by running their own firms.
Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) is a bank holding company, and a financial holding company. Shares of BAC fell by 2.32% or $-0.35/share to $14.73. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $12.13 and as high as $18.03. On average, 105494000 shares of BAC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 94814976.
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