Merrill Lynch has recruited a five-strong team from Barclays in The Lone Star State.

Merrill Lynch has hired Barry Schneider, Cris Bera and Chris Dewhurst within its private banking and investment group in Texas. 

The five-person team - which includes two support staff - all join from Barclays’ US wealth management division, where they had over $750 million of client assets under management.

At Merrill, they will report to regional managing director Bob Johnson in Dallas.

Schneider began his financial career at Goldman, Sachs & Co in 1975. He has been involved in institutional and ultra high net worth banking his entire career, having worked at investment banks including Pru-Bache, Salomon Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers.

Bera began his financial career at Morgan Stanley in 2001, joined Lehman Brothers in 2003 and then moved to Barclays in 2008.

Dewhurst started his financial career in 2005 at Lehman Brothers and, along with the rest of the team, joined Barclays when it acquired Lehman in 2008. 

Also this week, The David/Robertson Group rejoined Merrill Lynch in Baton Rouge, LA, from UBS.