STREET MOVES: Barclays Wealth Hires Six Investment Representatives

Barclays Wealth recently hired six investment representatives from its rivals, with the six having more than $26 million in combined annual production and managing more than $1.1 billion in client assets.

The hires by the unit of Barclays PLC (BCS) are the latest in a series it has made in the Americas region over the past three years. Since January 2010, Barclays Wealth has brought in 85 investment representatives--the firm's name for financial advisers--who generated more than $200 million in fees and commissions and had more than $40 billion in assets under management.

The new hires underscore Barclays' efforts to ramp up its wealth business in the Americas since it acquired Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s private investment management unit after the collapse of the investment bank in 2008.

In particular, Barclays Wealth has been attracting higher-producing brokers over the past 18 months since it beefed up its technology and announced plans to invest an additional $500 million globally in the business. Barclays already had planned to invest $500 million over five years.

"Our success in hiring is a function of our success in building out the platform," said Mitch Cox, head of Barclays Wealth Americas and head of research and investments globally for the firm.

Cox, in an interview, said Barclays Wealth's platform was previously "very good at trading stocks and bonds," but didn't have any kind of custom lending capabilities and discretionary asset management tools. The firm now offers a variety of different types of lending, he said.

Barclays Wealth boasts 1,550 investment representatives globally, with 250 in the Americas. The firm focuses specifically on the richest of the rich--clients with $10 million or more in investible assets.

While the Barclays unit has said it could reach 600 investment representatives in the Americas region over time, Cox said the firm is "less focused on the 600 number, but [we] still think the sweet spot is that 400 to 600 range."

The new hires announced Wednesday include Daniel Caso, who joined Barclays Wealth in Boston from Bank of America Corp.'s (BAC) Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. He reports to Marty Courage, regional manager for Boston.

In New York, Robert E. Miller joined Barclays Wealth from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), while Jorge Carreras and Carlos Molina were hired from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's private wealth management unit. The three investment representatives report to Mark Stevenson, regional manager.

Barclays Wealth also hired Morgan Stanley veterans Douglas R. Bayer and Joseph Gilbert in Washington, D.C. They report to Michael Burke, regional manager.

-By Brett Philbin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2173; [e-mail]