Barclays Hires Two Morgan Stanley Advisors in L.A.

Barclays has snapped up two financial advisors from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management as it continues to expand its Los Angeles-area reach.

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Matthew Celenza and Larry DiGioia join Barclays’ Wealth and Investment Management Division in Los Angeles as investment representatives reporting to Los Angeles Regional Manager and Managing Director Brian Sears.

Celenza and DiGioia work with ultra high net worth individuals and families, providing services including asset allocation, credit, estate and trust planning, risk management and philanthropy.

Together, Celenza and DiGioia co-founded a team focusing on the ultra high net worth market, called the Wilshire Group, while at Morgan Stanley.

Celenza, who now serves as a managing director, served at a Citi Family Office in Los Angeles prior to Morgan Stanley’s acquisition of Smith Barney. Before that, he served at Moran Stanley from 1998 through 2001.

DiGioia joins as a director after having served at Merrill Lynch prior to joining Morgan Stanley. He focuses on corporate executives and founders of publicly traded companies, and works with them on transactions including block trades and new issues, as well as concentrated, control and restricted securities transactions.

Barclays has been working on expanding its presence in the Los Angeles region. The firm hired Sears from Neuberger Berman 18 months ago, and he has since doubled the size of the Los Angeles office, according to Barclays.

Other recent advisor hires to the Los Angeles office in the past six months include Kevin Monaco, David Garfin and Scott Madison from Credit Suisse Private Banking; Mark T. Lindee from Wells Fargo; Audra Lalley from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management; and Lisa Amster from Goldman Sachs.

Lorie Konish writes for On Wall Street.