Wells Broker Moves to RBC, Citing New Firm’s “Reputation”

RBC Wealth Management-U.S.has scooped up another wirehouse veteran, this time a Charlotte, N.C., producer with $1.8 million in production.
The broker, Jared R. Smith, managed $145 million in assets, according to an announcement from RBC. He left Wells Fargo Advisors on Wednesday after almost 11, according to BrokerCheck.
RBC “has an impressive reputation of putting the needs of clients first – and that is exactly how I run my business,” Smith said in a prepared statement. He did not return calls for comment.
Wells Fargo’s brokerage unit has lost hundreds of advisors in recent quarters following the parent bank’s disclosure last September of a massive fake account scandal. The negative headlines do not appear to be fading for the bank, which on Thursday announced that a review showed a total of 3.4 million accounts were likely fake, well above the 2.1 million it initially estimated.
A Wells spokeswoman did not return a request for comment.
Smith began his career at UBS Financial Services in Charlotte in 2002 and moved to Wells in 2006, according to BrokerCheck.
The news followed an announcement from RBC on Wednesday that it had hired two brokers in Pittsburgh from regional rival Janney Montgomery Scott.