$900M Merrill Lynch team strikes out on its own

A prominent wirehouse rep and his Hawaii-based team — who rather suddenly left Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in September — have formed a new advisory firm. Carl Choy and two partners registered their new firm, CKW Financial Group LLC, with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month. Mr. Choy owns at least 50% of the Honolulu-based firm, according to the firm's ADV form, and his partners, Lynne Kinney and Ronald Wo, control the remainder. A phone message left for Mr. Choy at CKW was not immediately returned. The team departed Merrill less than a year after leaving Morgan Stanley in October 2008. At that time, the team had about $900 million in assets under management, according to a lawsuit Morgan Stanley filed against the brokers at the time. Mr. Choy's group focuses on fee-based investment management consulting. CKW's ADV indicates that it will manage money for a fee and offer a wrap fee account.