Long-time First Republic Bank private banker Brian Smith has been hired by Fieldpoint Private's Palm Beach office.
Fieldpoint announced today that Smith will be joining the firm as its managing director and senior advisor.
Smith has been with First Republic Bank since 2000, most recently in its Palm Beach office where he advised 35 ultra-high-net-worth families on $1.2 billion in banking, lending and wealth management business.
Before working at First Republic, Smith was a private banker with U.S. Trust and the Bank of New York.
Fieldpoint Private is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut and is a wealth advisory and private banking firm that serves ultra-high-net worth families and institutions.
The firm was founded in 2008 by former Merrill Lynch chairmen David Komansky, Daniel Tully and William Schreyer; TD Ameritrade chairman Joseph Moglia; Paine Webber and UBS Americas chairman Joseph Grano; and Home Depot founders Bernard Marcus and Kenneth Langone.
Fieldpoint Private also has offices in New York City and recently expanded into Palm Beach in 2016.
“My clients are in Palm Beach, Connecticut and New York, and their financial lives are complex,” Smith said. “Given that footprint and their broad-ranging needs, I expected I would have to settle for one of the giant firms, rather than the boutique experience my clients are clearly looking for. And then I found Fieldpoint.”
South Florida and specifically Palm Beach County is considered a hub for private banking due to the abundance of high-net worth individuals.
Kelly Smallridge, the president and CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, previously told the Business Journal there are about 60 to 70 hedge fund, private equity and wealth management firms that have moved into the Palm Beach County in the last four years.
