ON THE MOVE-Janney hires veteran Smith Barney manager in DC

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC has hired a veteran manager from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in the Washington, D.C. area, as the Philadelphia-based brokerage looks to expand its adviser presence in the nation's capital region.

Jeffrey Smith, who has worked in the industry for more than two decades, joined Janney in early August as a senior vice president and branch manager based out of the firm's Washington, D.C. office.

"It's an area where we think we can have a lot of success and broaden from our current footprint," said Janney's Private Client Group President Jerry Lombard in an interview on Monday.

Lombard said Janney plans to expand its D.C. office, which currently has 14 full-time financial advisers, and also add two more offices in nearby northern Virginia and Maryland over the next year.

"D.C. is a very lucrative area, demographically speaking," said Lombard, noting that the region ranks among the top wealth markets in the country. "Within the next 15 months we hope to have more flags on the ground."

In his new role, Smith reports to regional manager James Dornan, who joined Janney late last year from Morgan Keegan.

Smith was most recently a first vice president and branch manager at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's Alexandria, Virginia office.

He started his career as a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch, later moving into management in 2004 when he became a director of sales at Legg Mason. Smith joined Citigroup's Smith Barney after Legg Mason was acquired by Citi, and in 2009 he joined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney after Smith Barney merged with Morgan Stanley's wealth unit that year.

Many of Janney's biggest hires so far this year have come from major Wall Street brokerages, including Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Bank of America's Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Advisors. Those advisers joining Janney managed more than $1.2 billion at their old firms, based on broker moves tracked by Reuters.

Lombard said these top-level hires have boosted expectations that 2012 will be the best recruiting year for Janney in terms of average production of advisers joining the firm. The average annual production of the firm's veteran hires so far this year is roughly $900,000 per adviser, which typically translates to $90 million in client assets under management.

Janney, which is owned by the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co , expects to add about 40 advisers to its private client group by year-end. That group currently has about 730 advisers.