Deals & People June 5, 2023

Advisory M&A

Atria Wealth brings on team from Flagstar; Mercer Advisors acquires RMR Wealth Advisors; BG Group joins UBS; and more.

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Atria Wealth Adds $1.1B Wealth Team From Flagstar 

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. has recruited financial advisers Edwin Milner, Laura Palacios and Jason Kurz from Flagstar Bank NA (formerly Signature Bank) to join Atria subsidiary Cadaret Grant & Co. Inc.

The advisers will be an independent wealth management firm managing nearly $1.1 billion in client assets in association with Cadaret Grant’s largest branch—American Investment Planners, based in Jericho, New York.

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Bill Morrissey, head of Atria’s independent channel and president of Cadaret Grant, said in the announcement: “We congratulate Ed, Laura and Jason on their successful transition to independence, as well as AIP, which has consistently been one of our most successful Cadaret Grant branches. This transition further underscores Atria’s broader value proposition to growth-oriented financial professionals from the independent and employee channels who are seeking to reach the next level of success as wealth management business owners.”

Atria, based in New York City, and its subsidiaries together support nearly 2,300 financial professionals and approximately $100 billion of assets under administration.

Mercer Advisors Acquires RMR Wealth Advisors

Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. announced the acquisition of RMR Wealth Advisors, LLC.

RMR was founded in 2009 by Erik Mikkelson, Doug Giageos and Lisa Sowls. The firm serves more than 150 clients with approximately $350 million in assets under management.

“We realized we had hit a growth inflection point and had to either significantly reinvest in the company or join a firm that had already successfully created the scale and leverage, as well as the expanded service offering, we were looking for,” said Mikkelson in a statement. “We were introduced to David Barton, vice chairman at Mercer Advisors, who heads up the company’s merger and acquisition activity. As Dave described their company history and in-house family office service offering, including estate planning, tax consulting and return preparation, and corporate trustee services, we knew Mercer Advisors was right for our clients, staff and for ownership.”

BG Group Joins UBS in New York City

UBS announced that the BG Group has joined the firm in New York City. The BG Group manages more than $2.5 billion in client assets for high-net-worth individuals and families.

The firm includes financial advisers Michael Bromberg, Daniel Gerschel, Joshua Ellner, Rob Mancino and Craig Weinstein. They join the UBS Manhattan Wealth Management Market, managed by market director Kellie Brady.

“We’re proud to welcome Michael, Daniel, Joshua, Rob and Craig to UBS,” said Brady in a statement. “We believe we have the strongest platform for financial advisers in the Americas, and with our suite of high-net-worth capabilities and truly global offering, advisers like The BG Group will be able to deliver the full power of UBS to their clients.”

Hightower Makes Strategic Investment in Vigilant Wealth Management

Hightower Advisors LLC announced it has made a strategic investment in Vigilant Wealth Management, which has offices in Portland, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Chicago-based Hightower manages approximately $2.3 billion in client assets across 500 households.

Founded in 2002, Vigilant currently has 31 employees, including 11 wealth advisers, and is led by its three co-founding principals: Jeffrey Carlisle, Daniel Mulkern and Scott Sorensen.

“We chose to align with Hightower because of their partnership approach—providing scaling and strategic planning resources to our firm, while leaving us with the entrepreneurial freedom to control the identity, culture and strategic direction of Vigilant,” said Carlisle in a statement.

Gill Joins Snowden Lane Partners With $420 Million in Client Assets

Wealth advisory firm Snowden Lane Partners announced that Douglas Gill has joined the firm with $420 million in assets under management. His arrival takes Snowden Lane’s total client assets to more than $10 billion.

Gill will be based in Snowden Lane’s Bethesda, Maryland, office and serve as a partner and managing director. He joins Snowden Lane with more than 30 years of experience in financial services. Gill also previously spent 17 years as a private wealth adviser at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

“I’ve been fortunate to work for a range of firms across the wealth management industry, each of which applied their own approaches, but the emphasis Snowden Lane places on personalized client service made the firm a clear choice as I continue my career in the independent advisory space,” said Gill in a statement.

Compliance June 5, 2023

Debt Ceiling Suspended Until 2025

President Joe Biden's Saturday signature avoided a June 5 default by the U.S. government. 

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After weeks of negotiation, President Joe Biden signed into law on Saturday a bipartisan bill to suspend the U.S. debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, avoiding a first U.S. government default.

The House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (H.R. 3746) last week after Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, reached an agreement. The Department of the Treasury warned that the government could no longer pay its bills if an agreement was not reached by June 5.

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The Republican-controlled House voted 314 to 117 to approve the bill, and the Democrat-controlled Senate voted 63 to 36.

“Passing this budget agreement was critical,” Biden said in a statement Friday night. “If we had failed to reach an agreement on the budget, there were extreme voices threatening to take America, for the first time in our 247-year history, into default on our national debt. … Nothing would have been more catastrophic.”

The $31.4 trillion public debt limit is now suspended until after the 2024 presidential election.

In addition, the law requires the rescission of unspent money from past appropriations, other cuts to domestic spending and a 3% cap on increases in military spending in fiscal 2024.

It also does not permit the extension of a three-year freeze on federal student loan payments, which is set to expire on August 29.

Meanwhile, Biden’s forgiveness plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for 40 million eligible borrowers is expected to be ruled on by the Supreme Court before the end of June. The Senate approved a House resolution last week to repeal the student loan forgiveness plan, but Biden has vowed to veto the decision.

The debt ceiling legislation also speeds up energy and infrastructure projects and raises to 54 the age that low-income earners without dependents must work to receive food aid.

In Friday’s remarks, Biden said a default would have “destroyed [the] nation’s credit rating, which would have made everything from mortgages to car loans to funding for the government much more expensive.” He argued it would have taken the country years to climb out of that hole.

“We’re protecting important priorities, from Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid to veterans to our transformational investments in infrastructure and clean energy,” Biden stated.

In the release, Biden thanked McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, for their partnership in negotiating the bill.

With the debt ceiling crisis averted, Congress will turn to other matters, including calls for further clarity of SECURE 2.0 retirement legislation going into effect in 2024. Last week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions issued a letter urging the Department of Labor to prioritize implementation of certain provisions in the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, including those regarding employer ownership, defined benefit annual funding notices and emergency savings.

The nomination of Julie Su for Secretary of Labor, a post she is currently filling on an acting basis, is still pending approval from the full Senate. The HELP Committee approved her nomination in April.

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