Merrill Lynch recently hired brokers F. Michael Covey, Tom Kane and Mark Wiktor for its Chicago office, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the company.

The team joined from UBS Group AG's U.S. brokerage unit, where they oversaw $3.3 billion in client assets, according to the report.

The Bank of America Corp. unit also hired Joseph Gabriele and Paul Vasady-Kovacs from UBS, who together oversaw $1 billion for clients from their New York office.

In addition, Merrill Lynch hired Fernando Nicolau in Miami and Cathy Reed in Austin, Texas. Both Nicolau and Reed joined from JPMorgan Chase & Co., where they managed client assets of more than $1 billion and $113 million, respectively.

Merrill Lynch's hires came just before the company's June 1 recruiting pause, the Journal reported.