Janney Reels in Billion-Dollar Merrill Lynch Team in Delaware

By Intersection Advisory Staff · Advisor Moves

Published: March 7, 2026

Category: Advisor Moves

Peni Warren and Chris Fantano took Warren-Fantano Wealth Management from Merrill Lynch to Janney Montgomery Scott, with client associates Crystal Van Lenten and Catherine Huffman. Janney's announcement, dated February 20, 2026, says the team was previously with Merrill and manages over $1 billion in client assets. A Janney spokesperson told AdvisorHub the team managed $1 billion and had generated $5.3 million in annual revenue. Financial Planning reported that the team had managed roughly $1 billion at Merrill and did not publish a revenue figure. The "over $1 billion" wording is the firm's. The flat $1 billion and the $5.3 million are the spokesperson's figures, as AdvisorHub reported them. They are not the same sentence, and neither is a count of assets already held at Janney.

Where are they sitting, and who does what?

Janney said the team is based in a newly opened Middletown office and in the existing Lewes office, and that Fantano, a managing director, is branch manager in Middletown. Warren's BrokerCheck report, CRD 1157535, shows Janney Montgomery Scott registrations effective February 20, 2026, at both 12001 Old Vine Boulevard, Unit 106, Lewes, Delaware 19958, and 651 North Broad Street, Suite 107, Middletown, Delaware 19709. Her Form U4 employment entry lists Janney in Middletown from February 2026.

| Person | Role in Janney's announcement | Background the firm or the record supplies |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Peni Warren, CRPC | Managing director, financial advisor | Series 7 passed July 16, 1983; Merrill broker registration July 1983–February 2026 in Dover; Janney bio says she began in the industry in 1982 and cites the CRPC designation |

| Chris Fantano, CPFA, CRPC | Managing director, financial advisor, Middletown branch manager | AdvisorHub and Financial Planning: started at Wells Fargo in 2009 and joined Merrill four years later. Janney: University of North Carolina at Charlotte; more than 20 years across financial services |

| Crystal Van Lenten, CRPC | Senior registered private client associate | Janney: University of Colorado at Boulder; more than 13 years in the industry; Series 7 and 66 |

| Catherine Huffman | Senior private client associate | Janney: more than 20 years on the team and more than 30 years in banking |

The CRPC and CPFA marks above are how Janney's announcement lists them. Warren's BrokerCheck report, in the professional-designations section, reported none. A designation can be real and still absent from that section if it was not verified on the Form U4 in the way FINRA requires for the field. This draft does not treat the blank designations box as proof she lacks the credential Janney published.

What did Warren and Janney's managers say?

Warren's statement in the Janney release: "Joining Janney allows us to serve our clients in the way we believe is best. The firm's boutique size and collaborative culture give us the flexibility to run our practice, while providing the resources that allows us to continue delivering the service and advice our clients have come to expect." Financial Planning carried the second sentence.

Bob Steinke, identified as regional director, said the team had "built an impressive practice grounded in long-standing client relationships and comprehensive advice," and tied the decision to advisors "who value independence, partnership, and long-term growth." Vince Crognale, complex director, said he had known Warren and Fantano for many years. AdvisorHub quoted him on a shorter version of that welcome and reported that he had known the leaders for "several years." None of those statements discloses a payout, a recruiting loan, or a client-transfer tally.

Janney's bio for Warren lists board and volunteer roles with the Delaware State Fair, Bayhealth Foundation, Delaware Community Foundation, and The Fund for Women. Those are community facts from the firm announcement, not production.

How long was the Merrill record, really?

BrokerCheck shows Warren's Merrill broker registration running from July 1983 to February 2026, with a Dover branch location, and an investment-adviser registration at Merrill from January 1998 to February 2026. She passed the Series 7 on July 16, 1983, and the Series 66 on December 23, 1997. AdvisorHub called her a 42-year Merrill lifer and said she first registered with Merrill in 1983. That matches the broker registration. Janney's bio says she began in the industry in 1982 and has over 43 years of experience. The one-year gap between a 1982 industry start and a July 1983 Series 7 is the firm's narrative versus the exam date. Both can be true if she worked in the business before the Series 7. The registration that ended is the one that started in 1983.

Fantano's path is not a Merrill-only career. AdvisorHub, citing BrokerCheck, and Financial Planning both say he started at Wells Fargo in 2009 and moved to Merrill four years later, which is 2013. This draft did not open his BrokerCheck PDF. His Wells-then-Merrill sequence should be read as those outlets' account of the record.

AdvisorHub said a Merrill spokesperson did not respond, and that neither broker had immediately returned a request for comment. Bank of America wealth executives, the same story reported, had said the prior month that attrition had fallen to the lowest level in years and that recruiting of experienced brokers was picking up. Financial Planning, citing a January earnings call, said Merrill and other Bank of America wealth divisions saw a historically low rate of experienced-advisor loss, and that Merrill's advisor count is roughly 18,000. That headcount is the firm. It is not this team.

What scale of firm did they join?

AdvisorHub reported that Janney, sold in 2024 to the private-equity firm KKR, had its second-strongest recruiting year in 2025, adding 33 experienced advisors who had managed $6.5 billion at their prior firms, according to a January announcement. The same piece said Janney hired recruiter Kathy Capuano in November to lead advisor recruiting and market growth, and that the firm had more than 900 advisors managing $171 billion as of December 2025, citing Janney's website. Financial Planning described the KKR deal as an acquisition from Penn Mutual and put the firm at more than 900 advisors and $150 billion in assets under management. WealthManagement.com's account of the same hire said Janney had over $150 billion in assets under advisement as of the end of the prior year. Those firmwide totals do not agree with each other, and none of them is the Warren-Fantano book. The practice figures to keep straight are Janney's "over $1 billion" and the spokesperson's $1 billion and $5.3 million.

The Middletown branch opening is a location fact. It is not evidence that the whole asset figure moved on February 20, the day Warren's Janney registration became effective. [Advisor Pulse](https://intersectionadvisory.com/pulse) is the place to watch the other three registrations land beside hers. Whether regional firms keep winning long-tenured Merrill teams in the Mid-Atlantic is a question for the [Crossroads report](https://intersectionadvisory.com/crossroads-report), which can hold more than one office opening without turning $5.3 million of reported production into a market share claim.

Sources

- https://www.janney.com/meet-janney/corporate-news/all-news/detail/corporate-news/2026/02/20/warren-fantano-wealth-management-joins-janney-in-delaware — Janney announcement, February 20, 2026: "over $1 billion"; Middletown and Lewes; titles; Warren, Steinke, and Crognale quotes; bios and community roles

- https://www.advisorhub.com/janney-woos-billion-dollar-merrill-lynch-team-in-delaware/ — Karmen Alexander, February 20, 2026: spokesperson figures of $1 billion and $5.3 million; Fantano as Middletown manager; career dates; KKR; 2025 recruiting totals; Capuano hire; 900 advisors and $171 billion

- https://www.financial-planning.com/news/1b-aum-team-hops-from-merrill-to-janney — Dan Shaw, February 23, 2026: roughly $1 billion; Fantano's Wells Fargo-to-Merrill path; Merrill headcount of roughly 18,000; Janney at more than 900 advisors and $150 billion

- https://www.wealthmanagement.com/career-moves/janney-montgomery-scott-snags-1b-delaware-team — February 20, 2026 account: over $1 billion; Janney over $150 billion in assets under advisement

- https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/individual/individual_1157535.pdf — Peni S. Warren, CRD 1157535: Janney registration February 20, 2026; Lewes and Middletown addresses; Merrill dates; Series 7 on July 16, 1983