Wachovia gunning for Merrill reps

In a conference call yesterday afternoon, a Wachovia executive told a number of independent recruiters that the firm is financially sound and stable, and “it really wants to get in front of these Merrill guys,” said one recruiter who was on the call, who asked not to be identified.

Wachovia Securities LLC is gunning for Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.’s reps.
In a conference call yesterday afternoon, a Wachovia executive told a number of independent recruiters that the firm is financially sound and stable, and “it really wants to get in front of these Merrill guys,” said one recruiter who was on the call, who asked not to be identified.
Merrill Lynch of New York, the largest retail-brokerage firm, with 16,000 reps, announced Monday that it is being acquired by Bank of America Corp. in a stock deal worth $50 billion.
The recruiter said that Chip Walker, the Charlotte, N.C., firm’s director of financial adviser integration, did not give specifics about potential deals for the Merrill brokers.
“It was kind of a ‘hoo-rah’ thing’,” the recruiter said. The recruiter estimated that about 50 recruiting firms were on the call.
But now might not be the time to chase down brokers and attempt to recruit them to your firm, said another recruiter, who also asked not to be identified. “The reps’ goal right now is to calm clients’ fears about the stability of U.S. markets and their broker-dealers,” that recruiter said.
Teresa Dougherty, a Wachovia spokeswoman, was not immediately available to comment.