Huge financial firms in tug of war for advisors

But why are veteran advisors ditching their firms?

By Gerv Tacadena

Sep 19, 2017

Big names in the financial industry are seemingly losing their veteran advisors.

According to InvestmentNews, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS have been ditched by some of their financial advisors in the past week.

For instance, both Scott McQuilken and Richard Reasoner who collectively managed US$140 million for around 65 families in Atlanta have left Merrill Lynch to join Arkadios Capital.

Another case in point is the departure of William Wiseman and his team from Morgan Stanley to Ameriprise. Wiseman worked under his previous employer for the past eight years. His son, Parker, started to work for Morgan Stanley in 2015.

Earlier this month, Ameriprise has also snatched several advisors from Wells Fargo, Edward Jones, and Merrill Lynch.

Meanwhile, UBS lost two of its private wealth management reps to First Republic. According to a statement by the latter, Mark Friedman and Mitchell Peters will commence their work at First Republic Investment Management in San Francisco.

First Republic has been on the prowl for financial advisors from big financial industry names. In July, it has managed to poach two veteran Merrill Lynch advisors.

Friedman is recognised as one of the top financial advisors by the San Francisco Business Times and has over 20 years of experience in the wealth management industry. He dedicated 10 years of his life serving the private wealth division of UBS and eventually serving as the group’s managing director. On the other hand, Peters was senior vice president of investment in UBS. He was also on the list of top wealth advisors by the San Fransisco Business Times.

In the past months, UBS had bid farewell to several of its advisors to rivals. During the second quarter, it was revealed that the group lost 54 brokers, and as of June 30 this year, it had a net drop of 320 advisors.

UBS said last year that it plans to reduce broker recruitment by as much as 40% in an effort to focus on its existing advisors. A report from the Financial Advisor IQ reported that in June, UBS also announced that its retirement account advisors will be awarded commissions and product sales fees. Instead, these advisors will be paid based on assets under management.