J.P. Morgan Private Bank Attracts Two Teams Totaling $2B

J.P. Morgan Private Bank has attracted two separate teams from Wells Fargo and Wealthspire, which oversaw collectively more than $2 billion in assets, to build out and support its presence in the New York City market for wealth management.

According to J.P. Morgan, the firm’s New York footprint has expanded significantly in the past five years, doubling its assets under management in that time. According to J.P. Morgan U.S. Private Bank CEO David Frame, the additions bolstered the firm’s brand reputation and breadth of its platform.

“The Private Bank is on the largest hiring and expansion journey it has ever embarked on, and New York City is a central part of this growth strategy,” he said in a statement about the new hires.

Amanda Johnson, Scott Walker and Scott Thomas are joining J.P. Morgan as executive directors. They’re coming from Wells Fargo Private Bank after managing more than $1 billion in client assets. The team will be overseen by Robert DiDiano, who also recently moved to J.P. Morgan from Wells Fargo to lead a new Private Bank Group for the firm based in New York.

Like the Wells Fargo trio, Meghan Bergman, Michael Kuziw and David Carter also have about six decades of collective experience and previously managed more than $1 billion in assets. They’ll be coming to the New York Team from Wealthspire, acting as managing directors under New York Market Manager Kevin Sherman. Nelle Miller, the co-CEO for the New York team for J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said she looked forward to partnering with the teams as business in the Big Apple continued to grow.

“As a major wealth center, New York offers an incredible opportunity for us to add new talent and attract new clients,” she said.

According to the firm, J.P. Morgan Private Bank is hoping to hire as many as 350 advisors for the New York area in the next five years, after bringing on 85 from the start of 2021 to now, mirroring a national expansion that would double the firm’s advisor head count by adding 1,500 advisors by 2026. Last month, the bank announced it would open a new bank in the Jacksonville, Fla., region, to help cover northeast Florida’s high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, according to The Florida Times-Union.