(Changes the rapid market share expansion under Spawn to LasVegas, not Houston)
NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - RBC Wealth Management, the U.S.brokerage operation of Royal Bank of Canada, has hiredtwo managers from large competitors to run branch complexes onthe East and West coasts of the United States.
Kirstin Turner, who managed about 40 brokers in MorganStanley's downtown Houston office, has moved to Floridato oversee RBC's six branches in the West Palm Beach area, RBCsaid. Turner, who has more than 13 years of experience, joinedlast week as a director to oversee about 100 people, includingabout 60 advisers in St. Petersburg, Tampa, West Palm Beach,Naples, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach Gardens, the bank said.
She replaced complex director Jim Jahnsen, who is now a FortLauderdale branch director.
A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman confirmed her departure andsaid Matt Kabot, the firm's Houston complex manager, will assumeTurner's duties until she is replaced.
On the West Coast, RBC hired Rob Spawn in mid-October as asenior managing director overseeing about 70 advisers and 125employees overall in its eight-branch San Francisco complex.Spawn, who also serves as an arbitrator for the FinancialIndustry Regulatory Authority, has more than 30 years'experience in the financial services industry. He had workedsince 2006 at UBS Wealth Management Americas, where he was mostrecently associate complex director for UBS' branches in Arizonaand New Mexico.
Spawn previously was UBS' complex manager in downtownHouston and in Nevada-Utah. He increased the firm's Las Vegasmarket share from 7 percent to 25 percent between 2008 and 2011,an RBC spokeswoman said.
A UBS spokesman declined to comment. RBC said Spawn replaced Chuck Evans, who will remain to lead an internal coachingprogram for advisers at its San Francisco complex.
Turner and Spawn report to Darryl Traweek, director of RBCWealth's West/South division. RBC has 200 branch offices in 28complexes across the United States.
Spawn's hiring is the latest in a spree of managementchanges among U.S. firms selling investment advice to thewealthy in the Bay Area.
Morgan Stanley in September poached Wendy Eckert from UBS,where she had been regional manager, to run its large SanFrancisco office.
Barclays' U.S. brokerage arm hired David Fleming from rivalDeutsche Bank around the same time to help bolster its crumblingmanagement structure. [ID: nNrm3GVNJ2]
Deutsche Bank last month recruited William Welsh to replaceFleming. Welsh had managed Robert Baird's private wealthmanagement office in San Francisco since July 2010 and was previously a regional sales manager at Wells Fargo's privatebank.
Baird hired advisers Alexander Cushner and Russell Huebschlefrom Credit Suisse's private banking operations in SanFrancisco in October. The pair generated about $1.4 million inrevenue in their last year at Credit Suisse. (Reporting by Jed Horowitz; Editing by John Walace)
Barclays (BARC)