Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) has confirmed the appointment of three senior financial advisers, formerly with Macquarie Private Wealth, to its Australian wealth management business.
Mark O'Sullivan, Chris Watson and James Gosnell, who all specialise in international markets, left Macquarie Private Wealth of their own accord and have since been appointed as advisers within MSSB's Sydney office.
A spokesperson for MSSB said the group had grown its adviser numbers from 140 to more than 180 over the past 12 months and had representation in all states but Tasmania.
"We also recently appointed Andrew Fraser, who was previously a senior financial adviser with retail stockbroking business Patersons, to our wealth management business in Perth," the spokesperson said.
"We're committed to growing the business and hiring more high quality advisers, but we have not set a target for how many advisers we would like to put on."
The spokesperson said MSSB was investing for growth and wanted to create a top tier wealth management business in Australia.
At the end of July, MSSB appointed Harry Parkinson as the new chief executive of its Australian wealth management business, following Matthew Comyn's decision to return to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia after only five months in the role.
Joining MSSB in 2006, Parkinson was state manager for Melbourne and prior to that also spent time as chief executive of the Bendigo Stock Exchange. He also spent time within ANZ Securities.
Morgan Stanley assumed management control of MSSB in June 2009 and has been undertaking a comprehensive development plan for the business in Australia.
In the meantime, there are unconfirmed reports that around 30 employees within the private wealth division of the Macquarie Group were let go last week.
