Having both spent four years at Wachovia, Don D’Adesky and Kris Lemke have been recruited for Smith Barney’s Boca Raton, Florida office. The duo, who had over $4 million in trailing twelve-month production and managed $700 million in client assets, now report to branch manager Bert White.

Meanwhile, Wachovia has seen the departure of Tommy Truman and Melissa Saleeby for Smith Barney’s Charlotte, North Carolina office, where they now report to Reed Kelly. The pair, who had $1.6 million in production and managed $135 million in client assets, had both been with Wachovia for over 10 years.

Also formerly with Wachovia, Michael Harden has joined Smith Barney in Newport Beach, California. Mr Harden, who had around $1 million in production and $143 million in client assets, now reports to branch manager Robert Martensen.

In New York, Smith Barney has hired Hugh Reilly and Barbara Yee (although not as a team) from UBS Wealth Management, where they had $1.8 million in combined production and $226 million in assets under management. It is understood that Mr Reilly had spent 17 years with the Swiss giant, while Ms Yee had served for eight years. The two now report to branch manager Smith Barney's New York branch manager James Mulcahy.

Finally, Randall Snipes and James Butler, Merrill Lynch veterans of 10 and 12 years respectively, have joined Smith Barney in Augusta, Georgia and now report to John Terry. While at Merrill, now part of Bank of America, the pair had $1 million in combined production and $126 million in client assets under management.

This latest round of hires follows news in April that Smith Barney had recruited a number of multi-million dollar teams from Wachovia, UBS, Merrill Lynch and SunTrust for its offices based in Texas, Virginia and Florida.

Under a deal announced at the start of the year, Citi and Morgan Stanley have agreed to combine Morgan Stanley’s Global Wealth Management Group and Citi’s Smith Barney, Quilter in the UK, and Smith Barney Australia into a new joint venture to be called Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Citi is exchanging the units, along with a $2.7 billion upfront cash payment, for a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture, while Morgan Stanley is exchanging its global wealth management operations for a 51 per cent holding.