First Republic hiring spree focused on these four firms

Since First Republic Bank was spun off from Bank of America in 2010 and then went public, it has hired dozens of high-producing financial advisors from high-profile competitors, including some of the very same banks and financial institutions that are trying to stave off its collapse: Wells Fargo Advisors, J.P. Morgan Securities, UBS Financial Services and Morgan Stanley.

Over the last 13 years, First Republic Securities Co., the bank's broker-dealer, and First Republic Investment Management Inc., its registered investment advisor, have hired a total of 291 financial advisors, while seeing 58 leave the firm for various competitors over that time, according to a survey of 13 years of data from the InvestmentNews Advisors on the Move database. for a net gain of 233 financial advisors, many of whom are elite financial advisors who generate $1 million or more in annual revenue.

According to InvestmentNews data, almost half, 48.8%, of the financial advisors hired by First Republic came from Wells Fargo Advisors, J.P. Morgan Securities, UBS Financial Services and Morgan Stanley.

During that period, the bank hired 49 financial advisors from Wells Fargo, 33 from UBS, 40 from J.P. Morgan and 20 from Morgan Stanley, according to InvestmentNews data.

Over the past decade, the bank has been a significant destination for wirehouse advisors who are looking to leave Wall Street for a smaller firm while being paid a significant bonus to do so. First Republic has been known to pay at the high end of bonuses for financial advisors in regions where it's looking to expand.

JP Morgan's CEO Jamie Dimon is leading the effort to create a new rescue plan for First Republic, according to published reports. First Republic Bank has the most sizable wealth management business of the several regional banks that are feeling pressure from nervous depositors pulling cash; at the end of last year, the wealth management group had $271.2 billion in customer assets.

While the bank has been hit hard in recent weeks, financial advisors who joined First Republic in the past decade face restrictions under long-duration forgivable loans that are worked off over time. If an advisor leaves a firm before the loan is paid back, he or she may become a target of a lawsuit.

"If a firm gets rescued in an environment like this, the financial advisors often take a wait-and-see approach," said Jodie Papike, president of Cross-Search, a recruiting firm. "But if the new owner were to make changes that reduced advisors' compensation or perks, that's when they might look around for a new home."

A First Republic spokesperson did not return a call on Tuesday to comment.

First Republic Bank, the parent company of the broker-dealer and RIA, has been under intense pressure the past two weeks in the aftermath of the run on the bank and the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, and its future remained uncertain on Tuesday morning. Investors are punishing the company's stock price; a month ago First Republic Bank shares closed above $122, while Tuesday near noon, they traded at $16 and change, a decline of 87%. The stock, however, was trading higher on the day.

First Republic Bank was part of Merrill Lynch when Bank of America Corp. took over the firm during the credit crisis in 2010; Bank of America later sold First Republic to a group of private investors, which then took it public.