By Erwin J. Shustak, Esq. of Shustak Reynolds & Partners, P.C. posted on Wednesday, March 11, 2015.

Erwin J. Shustak

Managing Partner

Location: San Diego, California
New York, New York
Phone: (619) 696-9500 (Ext. 109)
(800) 496-5900 (Ext. 109)
Email: [email protected]

After aggressively courting advisors with large international clienteles over the past year or so, RBC Wealth Management has done an abrupt about face and is shutting down its International Advisory Group, leaving 40 brokers, based in San Diego and Miami, scrambling to find new homes. Late last November, RBC Wealth Management’s parent, Royal Bank of Canada said it was exiting the Latin American market as it realigned to focus on “priority markets.”

At the same time, the approximately 40 advisers in the International Advisory Group, which consists of RBC brokers for whom international business represents the majority of their revenue, all of whom had been based in San Diego and Miami, were told they would have to leave RBC and join another firm by this Spring. In Mid-December, those same advisors were told they would no longer be able to open new accounts, and that a final deadline for transitioning their business would be announced later. That deadline is now the end of April.

According to Erwin Shustak, Esq. of Shustak Reynolds & Partners, P.C. in San Diego, a number of the brokers who now must leave RBC were aggressively recruited to join the firm less than a year ago with promises that RBC was committed to remaining in the international space. “Many of those brokers passed on other opportunities at other firms who are still in the international advisory field and have suffered substantial damages” said Shustak, who has represented advisors and financial services clients for over 38 years. “They have seen their books of business decimated twice – once when they transitioned into RBC and now, less than a year later, when they are forced to leave RBC and join other firms”, Shustak added.

According to published reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, RBC has had serious anti-money laundering problems in Latin America, France and elsewhere, all of which have allegedly led the firm to quickly exit the international client area, although RBC has denied that was the cause. RBC first leased and built out new offices in San Diego in 2012 and began actively recruiting brokers from other brokerage firms in 2013. A year later, RBC announced it was exiting the international business.

Shustak Reynolds & Partners, P.C., with offices in California and New York, represents financial and investment advisors, broker-dealers and others in the financial services industry. For more information contact: Erwin J. Shustak, Esq., Managing Partner, 619.696.9500

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