First Republic Wealth Advisors Voted With Their Feet–And It Wasn’t For JPMorgan

But the failure of the California bank was a home run for Morgan Stanley.

Depositors and shareholders weren’t the only ones fleeing San Francisco-based First Republic Bank before it was seized by regulators and sold to JPMorgan. As a crisis of confidence enveloped regional and specialized U.S. banks, especially those with significant levels of uninsured deposits, First Republic’s wealth-management advisors also headed for the exits.

More than 40% of the struggling bank’s advisors left between the end of February and May 15, data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority show. One place those departees didn’t go en masse: JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, which on May 1 bought most of First Republic’s assets, including the wealth management operation, for $10.6 billion in a transaction arranged by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.