Merrill Private Wealth Broker with $4.5B Book Launches RIA in San Francisco
Merrill Lynch, which has revived its veteran broker recruiting efforts, has another big gap to fill as a longtime private wealth broker with over $4 billion in client assets struck out on his own in San Francisco.
After 18 years with the ‘thundering herd,’ Ash Chopra left on Friday to launch Syon Capital, according to Michelle Thetford, an outside consultant and former Hightower executive who assisted Chopra with the move. His team had managed around $4.5 billion at Merrill prior to their move, Thetford said, and a source familiar with their practice said they generated around $12 million in revenue.
Chopra said in a statement that he needed to run his own registered investment advisory firm to provide a multi-family office service model with investment products and services that would have been off limits at major brokerage firms.
“Within a wirehouse, our ability to brand ourselves and serve our clients as fiduciaries was restricted,” said Chopra, who is founder and CEO at Syon. “This move will also allow us to broaden our advice from just the assets we manage to all aspects of our clients’ financial lives—leveraging a broader arsenal of tools to address both A&L management and direct private investment opportunities.”