The Wirehouse Talent Battle: Winners, Losers and What’s Changing

Louis and Jason Diamond walk through Diamond Consultants' 2026 H1 Advisor Transition Report on wirehouse advisor movement, covering where advisors went, why large teams moved, recruiting economics and why wirehouses still attract sophisticated advisors despite rising attrition. They break the aggregate numbers into firm-level stories for Merrill, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo, and discuss the push factors behind advisors reconsidering their firms. The episode also frames the shift toward what they describe as expanding choice, with more than 200 firms recruiting at least one wirehouse advisor in the period.

1. Across Merrill, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo, 1,449 experienced advisors left while 932 joined, a net decline of 517 advisors in six months.
2. Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley were net winners in the period, while Merrill and UBS saw significant net losses.
3. Nearly half of departing wirehouse advisors chose some form of independence, while more than half remained within an employee model.
4. 41 teams managing more than $500mm left a wirehouse, including 20 managing $1B or more, and more than 200 firms recruited at least one wirehouse advisor.