Two JPMorgan advisors leave with $18.6B to launch self-funded Latigo Peak

Jim Atwood and Phil Scott left JPMorgan Chase with roughly $18.6 billion in client assets to launch Latigo Peak Partners, an independent RIA, InvestmentNews reported Monday. The publication described the launch as one of the largest wirehouse breakaways of recent years.

The firm opens with 48 professionals serving ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families from a headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Atwood built his practice in Boston and Scott built his in Bellevue, Washington; both ran practices among the largest at JPMorgan Advisors.

Revenue across the two practices grew from $34 million to more than $130 million over the past six years, according to the launch announcement. That is roughly 3.8 times the starting figure, or about 25% a year compounded between those two endpoints.

Atwood told Bloomberg News that the bank's structure had come to limit how the two could invest for clients. "If you're working within one of these firms, you're confined to investment opportunities on their platform," he said. "It gets difficult to be as nimble as you want."

Atwood said the firm turned down outside capital because sponsors can push to exit in five or six years. "We had a lot of opportunities out there to partner with PE – but when you partner with another firm ... they're going to want to get out in five or six years," he told Bloomberg. "They're going to have an idea of how to manage the business." He added: "Phil and I are backing this 100% ourselves, which is a big differentiator. It's not cheap to do that."

Latigo Peak will use more than one custodian, selecting Charles Schwab and BNY Pershing for custody and lending, a structure the firm notes is common among RIAs. Fidelity gave custody clients under $100 million until June 2027 to move. At $18.6 billion, Latigo Peak's book sits far above that threshold, and the firm is allocating it across two providers instead.