UBS loses headcount to Morgan Stanley, Raymond James

UBS continues to lose advisors to its industry rivals as Morgan Stanley, Raymond James and Rockefeller Capital Management all picked up prominent teams.

Morgan Stanley’s recruits consist of two advisory teams: Vista Wealth Management in Purchase, New York, and the Karstadt Lavigne Wealth Management Team in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Vista Wealth had roughly $780 million in assets under management last year at UBS Wealth Management, according to Forbes. And Karstadt Lavigne had $575 in AUM, according to sources familiar with the move.

Brokers on both teams changed their FINRA registrations from UBS to Morgan Stanley in the past three months. Vista Wealth consists of the financial advisors Sam Giliberti, Sev Dauti, Raymond Hart, Neil Klein and John Cirocco. 

Everyone on the Vista team switched registration to Morgan Stanley at the end of June after spending years at UBS. Most of them came to UBS from Dean Witter and Smith Barney, firms acquired by Morgan Stanley.

Meanwhile the Karstadt Lavigne team, which changed its registration in May, is led by the managing director and financial advisor Keith Karstadt, his son Daniel Karstadt, and senior vice president and financial advisor Gabriel Lavigne. Keith Karstadt has 46 years of industry experience and joined UBS in 2002 following stints at E.F. Hutton, Dean Witter and Prudential. Daniel Karstadt has 13 years of industry experience and returned to UBS in 2023 after starting his career there in 2012. 

And Lavigne has 16 years of industry experience. He joined UBS in 2013 following stints at Metlife Securities, David Lerner and Merrill.

Separately, a pair of advisors making up the Bartholomew Wealth Group have moved to Raymond James from UBS. The team consists of senior vice president Arthur W. Bartholomew III and vice president Jeffrey King, who both work out of West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Bartholomew has 44 years of industry experience and joined UBS in 2013 after stints at Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney. King has 17 years of experience and joined UBS the same year as Bartholomew following a similar employment history. Raymond James did not respond to requests for information on the team’s AUM total.

Industry recruiter Ron Edde, president and the CEO of Millennium Career Advisors, said he expects many more departures from UBS in coming months.

“I’m working with pretty good-size teams that are getting ready to go in the next 45 days or so,” he said. “So those are coming.” 

Meanwhile, Rockefeller Capital Management picked up an eight-person team that had managed roughly $2 billion for UBS in New York.

The team, called Entrepreneurs Group, is led by the private wealth advisors Emily Rubin, Thomas Livacarri and Kenneth Shapiro. Rubin started her career at UBS in 2003. Livacarri started in the industry in 1993 and came to UBS in 2009 following six years at Merrill. Shapiro began at Merrill in 2002 and moved to UBS in 2009. The team’s move was first reported by the industry publication AdvisorHub.

UBS executives have acknowledged in recent months that changes made to the firm’s compensation policies last year would likely drive some advisors to the exits. UBS reported in April that it has seen a 3% year-over-year decline in its U.S. headcount, which is now just under 6,000.