Saperstein's wealth and cash-management practice makes tracks for HighTower. Top broker Richard Saperstein has taken his New York-based team of more than a dozen wealth- and corporate-cash-management professionals out of JPMorgan Chase 's Bear Stearns unit and joined hybrid RIA-brokerage HighTower Advisors.

"Richard and his team are exactly the kind of advisors HighTower is built to serve," says HighTower's CEO Elliot Weissbluth -- adding that the transition was achieved with the support and cooperation of JPMorgan.

In fact, Saperstein's group -- which will go by the name "Treasury Partners" -- will continue use JPMorgan Clearing Corporation (JPMCC) -- formerly Bear Stearns Broker-Dealer & Investment Advisor Services -- to clear and custody most of its client's assets, issue trade confirmations and statements, and process wire transfers.

Big win

As a result of this arrangement, JPMCC will be a clearing and custody option for other HighTower advisors and their clients in addition to Fidelity's National FinancialNational Financial.

Saperstein is a twenty-five year veteran of the financial-service industry who has made regular appearances near the pinnacle of Barron's annual list of "Top 100" U.S. financial advisors in recent years -- most recently as number eight nationally and number two in the hyper-competitive New York market. He also seems keen to emphasize that his move to HighTower was amicable.

"[Although] I greatly appreciate the support my associates and I have received since JPMorgan acquired Bear Stearns, we mutually agreed to restructure our relationship," says Saperstein. "When we were considering our options, it became increasingly clear to us that HighTower's unique platform offers us greater independence."

HighTower, which launched late in 2008, has 17 senior advisors -- "managing directors" in the firm's parlance -- including Saperstein and his partners Jerry Klein and David D'amico. It has eight offices in the U.S., including "corporate centers" in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, where it is headquartered. Though it won't say what its total assets under management are, Saperstein's team alone was supervising more than $10 billion when it left JPMorgan. -FWR

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