Billion-Dollar Truist Team Joins Wells FiNet Practice Merritt Point in Florida

A Palm Beach Gardens, Florida-based team managing $1 billion at Truist Bank decamped on Wednesday to join an independent Wells Fargo Financial Network practice. The team, which is led by advisors Mark J. Elliott, Scott R. Friedman, Darren A. Dawson, John A. Kent and his son John Henry Kent, joined Merritt Point Wealth Advisors, according to Ross Bauer, co-founder and executive chairman of the FiNet practice. The Truist team produced $5.2 million in annual revenue and moved with two support staff, according to Bauer, who met the group through an industry recruiter about a year ago. The advisors wanted greater flexibility and autonomy over running their practice but also needed to retain access to banking and lending services, which made FiNet appealing, Bauer said. They had previously worked at Wells’ employee channel before moving to Truist’s SunTrust predecessor in 2016, according to registration records. Bauer, who transferred from Wells’ employee channel to launch Merritt Point in 2019, said many advisors chose to affiliate with an established FiNet practice rather than launch their own firm. They do not have to “put on the operator hat and think about compliance and marketing and real estate and technology and employee benefit structures,” he said. Merritt Point, like a number of FiNet practices, is backed by serial advisory firm investor Merchant Investment Management. Advisors who join receive transition assistance from FiNet and can participate in a partnership program that provides equity. Prior to Wednesday’s move, Merritt Point had 24 advisors managing $4 billion in assets, according to Bauer. Elliott first registered 44 years ago with Blinder Robinson & Co. and worked at a number of firms before joining Wells for the first time in 2000, according to BrokerCheck. Friedman started with Wells predecessor Olde Discount Corp. in 1996 and spent about a year at Noble International Investments before moving back to Wells through its First Union Brokerage predecessor. Dawson, who has 27 years of experience, started at Painewebber before joining First Union in 1999, according to BrokerCheck. The senior Kent first registered 33 years ago with Wells’ Prudential Securities predecessor and worked at Merrill Lynch and Citicorp before moving to Wells by way of Wachovia in 2000. His son has a year of experience, according to BrokerCheck. Members of the team did not respond to requests for comment sent through social media. A Truist spokesperson also did not respond to a request for comment. Wow, Blinder Robinson, now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time, or as it was better known back in the day as Blind ’em and Rob ’em. (For those not familiar it was a notorious penny stock boiler room operation) Ross Bauer is a sharp individual who runs a tight ship at Merritt Point, one of several very successful FiNet practices throughout the country. Yup, token Ron Edde comment on a Wells Fargo post haha. Pretty sure that his comment was mainly referring to Ross, but hey, haters gonna hate. Olde Discount is not a Wells legacy firm. It was acquired out of OTC scandal by HR Block which then sold HR Block Advisors to…. Ameriprise.