Eva Marina Ovejero and Sergio Sotolongo ran books of $500m and $100m respectively for clients in Latin America while at the wirehouse.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management has lost two more international advisors to industry rivals Alex. Brown and Bolton Global Capital.
On Friday, Alex. Brown announced it had recruited Eva Marina Ovejero, an advisor and industry veteran who managed more than $500m in client assets at Morgan Stanley for its Miami-based international business.
Ovejero joined the Raymond James subsidiary after nearly two decades with Morgan Stanley, where she catered to high net worth clients in Central and Latin America. She has joined Alex. Brown’s Brickell Avenue branch in Miami, headed by the firm’s South Florida regional director Eric Termini.
‘I am grateful to join a local management team that understands the needs of my clients,’ said Ovejero. ‘With their support and our shared values of putting clients first, along with our independence, integrity and conservative long-term vision, we have the perfect formula for success.’
Ovejero has 24 years’ experience in the financial services industry and started her career in 1997 with Banco Santander as an investment advisor based in Argentina.
Elsewhere, on Monday, Bolton Global Capital revealed it had added an international advisor from Morgan Stanley to its network in Miami.
Sergio Sotolongo joined the independent broker-dealer and RIA after 11 years at Morgan Stanley, where he ran a book of around $100m for high net worth clients in Argentina, Uruguay and Spain, according to Bolton.
He joins a group of about 50 advisors based in Bolton’s Miami office, led by head of business development Michael Averett. Averett joined the group in February last year from Citi International Personal Bank, where he was its Miami-based regional director.
Sotolongo is a 20-year industry veteran who began his career in finance with HSBC Private Bank in 2003 before joining Morgan Stanley in 2012.
Morgan exits mount
Ovejero and Sotolongo are the latest in a host of international advisors to leave Morgan Stanley this year.
Since January, more than a dozen of the wirehouse’s international advisors have left for rivals UBS, Insigneo and Snowden Lane, among others.
According to sources, one of the main reasons behind these departures is the ongoing issues Morgan Stanley is facing with an account processing backlog. The backlog forced the group to close or suspend thousands of client accounts of less than $5m last November and has since impacted international advisors’ ability to build out their client books.
Ovejero is one of the largest producers to have moved to Alex. Brown from Morgan Stanley.
Last week, Raymond James hired a five-person team from Morgan Stanley for its South Florida complex headed by Stephen Sullivan, just a month after recruiting a $250m duo for the same complex.
