Market Intelligence · Firm movement
UBS advisor departures: where 607 went
Where they went, who joined, and how UBS compares with its peers, from SEC registration records through .
Trailing 12 months ending
- Departures607Left for another firm. About flat on the year before (580).
- Arrivals253Joined from another firm.
- Net competitive movement−354Arrivals minus departures. People entering or leaving the industry are not counted.
- Departure rate6.7%Of the 9,076 at UBS on , when the period began.
Counts are investment adviser representatives (IARs) in SEC IAPD records, including supervisory and administrative registrants and excluding representatives registered only as brokers. Every move counted is a competitive move. Year-over-year ranges use the same 3.6% prior-count allowance for every firm. How these figures are counted
The short answer
In the 12 months to , 607 investment adviser representatives left UBS for another firm: 6.7% of the 9,076 there when the period began, and about flat on the year before. Wells Fargo Advisors received the most (114, 18.8% of those who left). Departure rates at the four peers on this page ran from 3.5% to 5.7%.
UBS at a glance
- Owner
- UBS Group AG, through UBS AG, UBS Americas Holding LLC and UBS Americas Inc. Form ADV,
- Headquarters
- Weehawken, New Jersey Form ADV,
- Investment adviser representatives (IARs)
- 9,386 registered SEC IAPD records, as of
- Regulatory assets under management
- $915.8 billion Form ADV,
- Broker Protocol
- Not a member: withdrew effective member list,
Owner, headquarters and assets are from the Form ADV of UBS Financial Services Inc., UBS’s SEC-registered investment adviser, as filed on the date shown. Regulatory assets under management are the securities portfolios the adviser continuously supervises or manages, as the firm reports them; they are not total client assets. Broker Protocol status is from the member list its administrator, J.S. Held, publishes. The IAR count is from this page’s SEC IAPD snapshot and covers every registration in the firm family whose moves the page counts.
Where those who left went
Wells Fargo Advisors, Morgan Stanley and Raymond James together received 41.8% of the investment adviser representatives who left UBS.
| # | Firm | Channel | IARs | Share of those who left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wells Fargo Advisors | Wirehouse / Independent Broker-Dealer | 114 | 18.8% |
| 2 | Morgan Stanley | Wirehouse | 86 | 14.2% |
| 3 | Raymond James | Regional Broker-Dealer / Independent Broker-Dealer | 54 | 8.9% |
| 4 | RBC | Regional Broker-Dealer | 43 | 7.1% |
| 5 | Merrill Lynch | Wirehouse | 38 | 6.3% |
| 6 | Rockefeller | RIA | 25 | 4.1% |
| 7 | J.P. Morgan | Wirehouse | 22 | 3.6% |
| 8 | LPL Financial | Independent Broker-Dealer | 18 | 3.0% |
| 9 | Charles Schwab | Custodian / Direct Advisory | 12 | 2.0% |
| 10 | Cresset Asset Management | Not classified | 12 | 2.0% |
The other 183 went to 86 other firms. Firms with the same count are listed alphabetically. Channel is the destination's operating model in Continuum's firm classification; a firm with entities in two channels shows both, and “Not classified” means the firm is outside the classification.
Where those who joined came from
253 investment adviser representatives joined UBS from another firm in the same period. Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan together accounted for 51.4% of them.
| # | Firm | Channel | IARs | Share of those who joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morgan Stanley | Wirehouse | 66 | 26.1% |
| 2 | Merrill Lynch | Wirehouse | 45 | 17.8% |
| 3 | J.P. Morgan | Wirehouse | 19 | 7.5% |
| 4 | Wells Fargo Advisors | Wirehouse / Independent Broker-Dealer | 14 | 5.5% |
| 5 | Equitable | Insurance-Affiliated | 11 | 4.3% |
The other 98 came from 58 other firms. Firms with the same count are listed alphabetically.
Departures by quarter
Investment adviser representatives who left UBS in each of the last eight calendar quarters. Calendar quarters overlap the trailing period only in part, so they do not add up to its count. The latest, Q3 2026, is provisional: registrations for moves late in a quarter keep arriving for weeks.
| Quarter | Departures | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2024 | 83 | Complete |
| Q1 2025 | 109 | Complete |
| Q2 2025 | 216 | Complete |
| Q3 2025 | 173 | Complete |
| Q4 2025 | 138 | Complete |
| Q1 2026 | 150 | Complete |
| Q2 2026 | 182 | Complete |
| Q3 2026 | 148 | Provisional |
Who leaves
- 6.3 yearsMedian time at UBS before leaving, at the registration entity they left.
- 58.6%Share of those who left with ten or more years in the industry by the data date.
- 33%Moved with colleagues: 199 of the 607 who left were among three or more who left UBS for the same firm, in the same state, each within three days of the one before. Shuffled arrival dates give 1%. Timing in the record is not a confirmed team.
Channel of the firms they joined
Investment adviser representatives who left UBS, by the operating model of the firm they joined.
Where those who left are based
| # | State | Departures | Share of placed departures |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 91 | 15.0% |
| 2 | New York | 88 | 14.5% |
| 3 | California | 52 | 8.6% |
| 4 | New Jersey | 48 | 7.9% |
| 5 | Texas | 39 | 6.4% |
605 of the 607 departures are placed in a U.S. state or Washington, D.C. Each person is placed in the state with most of their registered branch locations in the current record, with a fixed rule for ties. People with no branch location on file are placed by their registration state, or shown as Multi-State when registered in several; Multi-State people are not in any state’s count. A departure placed in a state is a change of firm, not a relocation.
UBS and its peers
The same measures, on the same definitions and dates, for Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Advisors and J.P. Morgan.
| Firm | IARs at the start | Left | Departure rate | Change on the year before | Joined | Net competitive movement | Median tenure of those who left | Share with ten or more years in the industry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UBS | 9,076 | 607 | 6.7% | About flat | 253 | −354 | 6.3 years | 58.6% |
| Merrill Lynch | 24,555 | 1,404 | 5.7% | About flat | 534 | −870 | 3.2 years | 33.1% |
| Morgan Stanley | 21,885 | 773 | 3.5% | +9% to +13% | 663 | −110 | 3.3 years | 47.3% |
| Wells Fargo Advisors | 17,042 | 941 | 5.5% | +15% to +19% | 986 | +45 | 4.1 years | 59.3% |
| J.P. Morgan | 12,453 | 692 | 5.6% | +2% to +6% | 980 | +288 | 2.7 years | 42.1% |
Departure rate is departures divided by IARs at the start of the period. Changes on the year before are shown as about flat or as a range; see the method below.
Two patterns worth understanding
For every investment adviser representative who joined from another firm, about 2.4 left for a competitor.
In the 12 months to , 607 left and 253 joined. This doesn’t establish why individuals moved, or whether UBS’s total headcount fell.
Departures aren’t limited to newer advisors.
58.6% of those who left had ten or more years in the industry, and the median time at UBS before leaving was 6.3 years.
The record shows where people went. Whether a different model fits your practice depends on your clients, your team and what you want to build, and staying can be the right answer.
What the record cannot tell you
The SEC registration record shows that an investment adviser representative’s registration moved from one firm to another, and when. It does not say why. There is no field for reasons, and this page has no sourced reporting on why people left UBS.
The record also leaves out people who left the industry altogether, representatives registered only as brokers, the clients or assets that moved, and whether a move worked out for the person who made it.
Explore the wider movement picture
UBS is one part of a larger picture. AdvisorWire™ shows which firms are gaining and losing advisors, and how movement differs across firms and states.
Questions and answers
How many advisors left UBS in the last 12 months?
607 investment adviser representatives left UBS for another firm in the 12 months to : 6.7% of the 9,076 registered there when the period began. Over the same months 253 joined from other firms, for net competitive movement of −354.
Where do UBS advisors go?
Wells Fargo Advisors (114) received the most, followed by Morgan Stanley (86) and Raymond James (54). Together they took 41.8% of those who left.
Who owns UBS?
UBS Financial Services Inc., UBS’s SEC-registered investment adviser, is owned by UBS Group AG, through UBS AG, UBS Americas Holding LLC and UBS Americas Inc., according to its Form ADV filed .
How many advisors does UBS have?
9,386 investment adviser representatives (IARs) were registered with UBS in SEC IAPD records as of . The count includes supervisory and administrative registrants and leaves out representatives registered only as brokers, so it can differ from the advisor headcount UBS reports.
How much does UBS manage?
UBS’s Form ADV, filed , reports $915.8 billion in regulatory assets under management: the securities portfolios its adviser, UBS Financial Services Inc., continuously supervises or manages. That is not the same as total client assets, which firms count in their own ways.
Are more advisors leaving UBS than a year ago?
About the same. 580 left in the 12 months before, counted the same way. That count is rebuilt from today's record, which has lost people who have since left the industry, so it reads slightly low.
How long had advisors been at UBS before leaving?
The median was 6.3 years at the registration entity they left, and 58.6% had ten or more years in the industry.
Why are advisors leaving UBS?
The SEC record does not say. It shows that a registration moved from one firm to another and when. It has no field for reasons, and this page has no sourced reporting on why people left UBS.
How these figures are counted
- Who is counted
- Investment adviser representatives (IARs) in the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) records, including supervisory and administrative registrants, so a count can exceed the advisor headcount a firm reports. Representatives registered only as brokers are not included. Exact counts here are of IARs; general statements say advisors.
- A competitive move
- A registration that moved to a different firm, with brand variants rolled up to their operating family. Moves within a family, conversions and rebrands are excluded, as are confirmed corporate events and returns after a gap of more than 180 days. Each person counts once, at their latest move in the period.
- Net competitive movement
- Arrivals from other firms minus departures to other firms, on the rules above. People entering or leaving the industry are not counted.
- Period
- to , by the date the person registered with the new firm. Filings for the latest weeks are still arriving, so recent counts can rise slightly. Published .
- Departure rate
- Departures divided by the IARs at the firm when the period opened on , reconstructed from registration dates in today’s record. People who have since left the industry are missing from it, so the rate reads slightly high. People later moved by a confirmed corporate event are left out of the starting count, as in Firm Churn.
- Today’s count and the starting count
- UBS has 9,386 IARs in today’s record and had 9,076 at the start of the period: more today, although net competitive movement was −354. Today’s count includes 580 people whose first registration began on or after , and the starting count is rebuilt from today’s record, which no longer includes people who have since left the industry.
- The year before
- to , rebuilt from today’s record on the same rules. It has lost people who have left the industry since, so it reads low. A change under 5% either way is reported as about flat; a larger one as a range, from the change after raising the year-before count by 3.6% to the raw change. When either year has fewer than 20 departures, both counts are given and no percentage.
- Quarters
- Calendar quarters, each person counted once per quarter at their latest move in it. The latest quarter is provisional because filings for moves late in a quarter keep arriving for weeks.
- Tenure and experience
- Tenure is time at the registration entity the person left, not across affiliated entities. Industry experience is years since first registration, as of the data date.
- Moved with colleagues
- Departures in a registration cluster: three or more people who left the same firm for the same destination firm, in the same state, each arriving within three days of the one before. The share is shown only for 20 or more departures, and only when it is at least 2.0 times what 1,000 shuffles of the same people’s arrival dates give, with a shuffle reaching it less than 5% of the time. A cluster is timing in the record; only a public announcement confirms a team.
- Patterns
- A pattern is stated only when it holds: moves to firms in UBS’s own channel at 40% or more of departures, called most only above 50% and only for a firm outside the independent channels; a flow ratio of at least 1.1, rounded to one decimal; and 30% or more of those who left with ten or more years in the industry.
- Location
- Each person is placed in the state with most of their registered branch locations in the current record, with a fixed rule for ties. People with no branch location on file are placed by their registration state, or shown as Multi-State when registered in several; Multi-State people are not in any state’s count. The current record may not show where someone worked when they moved.
- Not counted
- People who left the industry (they drop out of the record), broker-only representatives, and moves without a valid date.
Source: SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) registration records, processed by Continuum Search Group. How Market Intelligence figures are built.
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