Raymond James pulls from Commonwealth, again, and UBS: Advisor Moves

September 5, 2025 2:05 PM

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The biggest move out of UBS this week: a team managing $1.6 billion that's leaving to join LPL Financial.

Raymond James also saw success recruiting from the Swiss wirehouse. And it pulled two teams from Commonwealth, which was recently acquired by LPL. Read about industry moves, deals and more below.

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Raymond James recruits teams with $965M in AUM from Commonwealth, UBS

Raymond James is continuing its run of pulling teams from Commonwealth Financial Network amid its purchase by LPL Financial, while also picking up a team from UBS.

Rydge Wealth Management, a San Francisco Bay Area team led by Jose Campos and Ryan Duncan Anderson, is joining Raymond James Financial Services, the firm's channel for independent advisors. Campos started at Cambridge Investment Research in 2016 before moving to Commonwealth the following year. Anderson started his career in 2005 and moved to Commonwealth in 2011. The duo had managed $330 million at Commonwealth

And Friday saw Raymond James announce another team recruited from Commonwealth. Custom Wealth Strategies is also joining the firm's independent channel after managing $315 million for Commonwealth in Depew, New York. The team consists of the advisors David Burgio Sr. and his son David Burgio Jr., as well as Michael Malaney and Mary McCafferty.

They're amid the scores of advisors who moved to other firms amid LPL Financial's purchase of Commonwealth last month for $2.7 billion. LPL has set a goal of retaining 90% of the roughly 2,900 advisors and $285 billion in client assets Commonwealth had when the deal was announced.

Raymond James has so far been the biggest draw for Commonwealth advisors not interested in moving over to LPL. Last week, it announced the recruitment of three former Commonwealth teams managing $880 million in total assets.

Separately, Raymond James picked up a father-son duo from UBS that had formerly been managing $320 million. Martin Sloane and his son Thomas are starting Sloane Square Wealth Management as part of Raymond James & Associates, the firm's channel for direct employees, in Stuart, Florida. Martin started his career at UBS in 1985, and Tom began there in 2023.

UBS has also been struggling to hold onto advisors. This week, a large team managing $1.6 billion in Merced, California, left to join LPL Financial.

Departures have accelerated following changes UBS made to its compensation policies last year. UBS reported in July that it ended its second quarter with 5,773 advisors in its Americas unit, which includes the U.S., Canada and Latin America. That was down by 111 advisors from the first quarter of 2025 and by 229 advisors from the second quarter of last year.

Wells Fargo snags advisors with $1.1B from LPL, RBC, TD

Wells Fargo Advisors has recruited financial advisors managing $1.1 billion in total assets from LPL Financial, RBC and TD Private Wealth.

John Diagacomo and Natalie Estabrooks are joining Wells Fargo's private client group, its standard broker-dealer channel. Digiacomo oversaw $132 million for LPL in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and started his career at Ameriprise, joining LPL in 2017 after stints at other firms. Estabrooks is also joining from LPL, where she had managed $139 million in Rochester, New York. Estabrooks started at M&T Securities in 2006 and moved to LPL in 2021.

Separately, Sheryl LaDuke is joining Wells' private client group from RBC Capital Markets in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she had managed $143 million. She began her career in 1990 at Dain Rauscher, which was later bought by RBC.

And Tina Truax-McCuin joined Wells from TD Private Wealth in the New York City market, where she had managed $700 million. She started her career at TD Private Wealth in 2014.

Cetera pulls $400M AUA team from Ameriprise

Cetera is building out its presence in and around New York City with an advisory team recruited from Ameriprise.

DFG Financial Group, led by the advisors David Dominici and his niece Jacqueline Zapicchi-Cloughsey, is joining Cetera in New Jersey and the greater New York City metro area. The team had $400 million in assets under administration at Ameriprise.

DFG Financial is joining Cetera's Summit Financial Networks, the largest of four independent broker-dealers that make up Cetera Financial Group. Cetera as a whole has around 12,000 advisors and $590 billion in assets under administration.

Dominici said in a statement that "what we really liked about Summit is the boutique culture and belief that we're going to get phenomenal service from a 12,000-advisor firm, but in a smaller carveout that fits our culture."

Dominici started his career at John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance in 1985 and moved to Ameriprise in 2015 after stints at other firms. Zapicchi-Cloughsey started at Signator Investors in 2010 and also moved to Ameriprise in 2015.

Osaic picks up $315M team from LPL

Osaic has scooped up an advisory team in its industry rival LPL's home turf in Southern California.

Simplified Wealth Management, based in Corona, California, is joining Osaic from LPL Financial, which has its headquarters in San Diego. The team is led by founders Kenichi Igarashi and Aaron Johnson and financial advisors Cory Leckie and Joshua Mason and had previously managed $315 million in client assets.

Igarashi started his career in 1996 at National Planning Corp., which was bought in by LPL in 2017. Johnson started at National Planning in 2008.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based Osaic came in at the No. 3 spot this year in Financial Planning's ranking of the largest firms as measured by revenue, reporting nearly $4.9 billion in annual income. LPL was No. 1, with nearly $12.4 billion in annual revenue.

Osaic, formerly Advisor Group, has been majority-owned by the private investment firm Reverence Capital Partners since 2019 and has an advisor headcount of roughly 11,000. LPL is publicly traded and numbers more than 29,000 advisors.

Corient expands overseas, buys $3.5B multifamily office

The large RIA aggregator Corient is moving overseas in a big way and doubling its AUM with its acquisition of two European wealth firms collectively managing $214 billion.

Separately Corient, which already has $216 billion under management, has bolstered its presence in and around Boston with its purchase of the multifamily office Breed's Hill Capital, a firm with $3.5 billion under management that was founded in 2014 by John J. Edwards in 2013, who remained the primary owner.

Corient's move overseas comes with its purchase of two firms, Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital, both headquartered in the U.K. The deal, expected to close early next year, will give Corient a presence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"Under our international partnership, which will consist of more than 300 firm owners aligned under one vision, we're building a new type of wealth management firm, one that is global, collaborative and evolving to meet the dynamic needs of sophisticated clients," Corient CEO Kurt MacAlpine said in a statement.

Stonehage Fleming specializes in providing family office and advisory services and manages more than $175 billion in client assets. Stanhope Capital is one of the largest independent wealth managers in Europe and oversees close to $40 billion in assets.

Corient, which has 1,500 employees, is the private wealth subsidiary of the Canadian wealth and asset management firm CI Financial. CI Financial was taken private in November by Mubadala Capital, the private equity arm of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, in a deal the firm said implied an enterprise value of about $12.1 billion.

Private equity firm buys back Wealthspire, Fiducient in $2.7B deal

The private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners is regaining ownership of Wealthspire Advisors, Fiducient Advisors and a third firm after selling them last year.

Madison Dearborn announced Wednesday it plans to buy Wealthspire, Fiducient and Canadian firm Newport Private Wealth for $2.7 billion in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. Madison Dearborn had previously owned the three firms through the insurance brokerage NFP, which it sold to the professional services firm Aon last year.

After the sale to Madison Dearborn, the three acquired separate wealth management firms will be brought under a single brand, which has yet to be announced. The company will be led by Michael LaMena, the current CEO of Wealthspire Advisors, and Carl Nelson, the current head of mergers and acquisitions at NFP.

Aon said in a statement that the three businesses had $127 million in EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the year leading up to June 30. Wealthspire Advisors oversees roughly $31 billion in client assets, according to its website, and Fiducient, which mainly works with retirement plans — oversaw roughly $345 billion by the end of 2024, according to its site.

Madison Dearborn was founded in 1992 and has raised more than $31 billion in capital. "For more than 20 years, we have successfully generated value for our portfolio companies in the financial services sector and are tremendously excited to welcome these outstanding businesses back to MDP," Vahe Dombalagian, managing partner and co-head of financial services at Madison Dearborn, said in a statement.

New England Private Wealth buys DHK Financial with $1.6B in AUM

New England Private Wealth, an RIA specializing in helping wealthy clients and institutions, is looking to New Hampshire with its purchase of DHK Financial Advisors.

DHK Financial, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, manages roughly $1.6 billion in client assets. Its acquisition will push New England Private Wealth's AUM total to roughly $5 billion. Details of the deal were not released.

DHK was founded in 1993 and provides services to charities, associations, endowments, foundations and other institutions. New England Private Wealth Advisors was started in 2005 and was acquired in April this year by Aspen Standard Wealth, an RIA aggregator backed by the private equity firm Alpine Investors.