UBS pulls three Morgan Stanley teams in one week

UBS pulled three Morgan Stanley teams this week. None of them went independent. PWD's tracking shows three groups registered with UBS in the week through Aug. 15. Each group had two advisors. Mitch Edwards and Jeff Stanley led the moves in Kenwood, Ohio. One more group in Indiana moved without names attached to the filing. Six advisors left one wirehouse for another in a single week, and none went independent.

Most weeks, the filings show advisors leaving a wirehouse for an RIA or a custodian-backed independent practice. This week's filings show something else. In PWD's 90-day flow standings, UBS has added three teams and lost none. Morgan Stanley has added no one and lost three. Among wirehouses, that is the largest net loss in PWD's 90-day record.

Raymond James & Associates also added three teams in the same standings. It lost none. But UBS's new teams came entirely from Morgan Stanley, while Raymond James drew from Stifel and Wells Fargo this week. The Morgan Stanley-to-UBS flow is a direct wirehouse contest, not a detour through independence.

According to PWD's registration records, the Ohio moves were recorded on Aug. 15. Edwards and Stanley each took two advisors. The Indiana team also moved two advisors, and PWD has not yet confirmed the names on that filing. Asset figures were not reported for any of the three moves. That is common in the first days after a team registers; production numbers tend to surface in the next reporting cycle.

The Edwards and Stanley groups were recorded separately. UBS has made no public announcement about the hires, and Morgan Stanley has not commented. All six went to UBS.

Wirehouse recruiting has always been sensitive to geography. Kenwood, Ohio is a wealthy Cincinnati suburb where UBS and Morgan Stanley both keep private wealth offices. A three-team move from a single market in a week suggests a targeted push rather than opportunistic hiring.