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Merrill Lynch vs UBS: advisor moves between the two firms
How many advisors moved from Merrill Lynch to UBS, how many moved the other way, and where else each firm’s leavers went, from SEC registration records through . The page shows movement as recorded; it does not rate either firm.
Trailing 12 months ending
- Merrill Lynch to UBS453.2% of Merrill Lynch’s competitive departures.
- UBS to Merrill Lynch386.3% of UBS’s competitive departures.
- Net between the two7More moved toward UBS than away from it. Not adjusted for firm size.
- Both directions83Moves between the two firms, either way.
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. How these figures are counted
The short answer
In the 12 months to , 45 investment adviser representatives moved from Merrill Lynch to UBS and 38 moved from UBS to Merrill Lynch: a net 7 toward UBS. Moves to UBS were 3.2% of Merrill Lynch’s 1,404 competitive departures; moves to Merrill Lynch were 6.3% of UBS’s 607.
Both directions
Each direction as a share of the departing firm’s competitive departures and of the receiving firm’s competitive arrivals. Merrill Lynch had 1,404 departures and 534 arrivals; UBS had 607 and 253. The two firms differ in size: Merrill Lynch had 24,555 IARs when the period began and UBS had 9,076, and none of these counts is adjusted for that.
| Direction | IARs | Share of the departing firm’s departures | Share of the receiving firm’s arrivals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merrill Lynch to UBS | 45 | 3.2% | 17.8% |
| UBS to Merrill Lynch | 38 | 6.3% | 7.1% |
Where else each firm’s leavers went
UBS was destination No. 6 for those who left Merrill Lynch, and Merrill Lynch was No. 5 for those who left UBS, by number of IARs. Firms with the same count are listed alphabetically.
| # | Firm | IARs | Share of those who left |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J.P. Morgan | 251 | 17.9% |
| 2 | Wells Fargo Advisors | 181 | 12.9% |
| 3 | Morgan Stanley | 150 | 10.7% |
| 4 | LPL Financial | 71 | 5.1% |
| 5 | Raymond James | 50 | 3.6% |
UBS was No. 6 among the 208 firms they joined.
| # | Firm | IARs | Share of those who left |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wells Fargo Advisors | 114 | 18.8% |
| 2 | Morgan Stanley | 86 | 14.2% |
| 3 | Raymond James | 54 | 8.9% |
| 4 | RBC | 43 | 7.1% |
| 5 | Merrill Lynch | 38 | 6.3% |
Where those who moved are based
The states with the most moves each way, by where each person is registered now.
| State | IARs | Share of placed moves |
|---|---|---|
| California | 6 | 14.3% |
| New Jersey | 5 | 11.9% |
| Tennessee | 5 | 11.9% |
| State | IARs | Share of placed moves |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 7 | 18.4% |
| Florida | 5 | 13.2% |
| New York | 5 | 13.2% |
Placed in a U.S. state or Washington, D.C.: 42 of the 45 moves from Merrill Lynch to UBS, and all 38 the other way. 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.
Moving with colleagues
- Merrill Lynch to UBS. 16% of the 45 arrived in a registration cluster. Chance timing alone would give under 1%.
- UBS to Merrill Lynch. 34% of the 38 arrived in a registration cluster. Chance timing alone would give under 1%.
A registration cluster is three or more advisors who left the same firm for the same destination firm, are registered in the same state, and arrived each within three days of the one before. A direction’s share is shown only when it has 20 or more moves, the share is at least 2.0 times what 1,000 shuffles of the arrival dates of all the departing firm’s leavers give, and a shuffle matches it less than 5% of the time. Registration dates show timing, not intent: a cluster does not establish that the people worked together or decided together.
What these flows can’t tell you
Which firm is better. The counts show where registrations moved, not how either firm treats advisors or their clients. A larger firm has more people who could leave, and these counts are not adjusted for size.
Why anyone moved. The SEC record has no field for reasons, and this page has no sourced reporting on why people moved between Merrill Lynch and UBS.
What came with them. The record does not show whether clients or assets followed, or whether a move worked out for the person who made it. It leaves out people who left the industry and representatives registered only as brokers.
Explore each firm
AdvisorWire™ shows arrivals, departures and the routes between firms on the same data.
Merrill Lynch advisor movement → See Merrill Lynch in AdvisorWire → UBS advisor movement → See UBS in AdvisorWire →
Questions and answers
How many advisors moved from Merrill Lynch to UBS?
45 investment adviser representatives (IARs) in the 12 months to , 3.2% of Merrill Lynch’s competitive departures.
How many advisors moved from UBS to Merrill Lynch?
38 IARs in the same months, 6.3% of UBS’s competitive departures. Between the two directions that is a net 7 toward UBS.
Is Merrill Lynch or UBS better for advisors?
The registration record can’t answer that, and this page doesn’t try. It shows how many people moved each way. Whether either firm fits a practice depends on the advisor’s clients, team and plans, and staying can be the right answer.
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. 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, confirmed corporate events such as acquisitions and platform conversions, and returns after a gap of more than 180 days are excluded. Each person counts once, at their latest move in the period.
- 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 .
- Shares
- A direction’s share of departures is its moves divided by all competitive departures from the firm they left; its share of arrivals is the same moves divided by all competitive arrivals at the firm they joined.
- Net between the two
- Moves one way minus moves the other way. It is not either firm’s overall net movement, which counts every other firm too, and it is not adjusted for the firms’ size. A net under 5% of the moves between the two is described as about even.
- Registration clusters
- Three or more advisors who left the same firm for the same destination, in the same state, each arriving within three days of the previous one. Clusters form among all of the departing firm’s leavers. To test against chance, their arrival dates are shuffled 1,000 times; a share is shown only for 20 or more moves, when it is at least 2.0 times the chance share and the chance of matching it is below 0.05.
- 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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