UBS, Commonwealth keep leaking advisors

UBS loses teams to JPMorgan, RBC; Commonwealth to Raymond James

August 29, 2025 3:18 PM

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Recent months have seen large numbers of advisors leaving Commonwealth Financial Network to go to Raymond James and leaving UBS to go, well, just about anywhere.

This week was no different. Elsewhere, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors and LPL Financial announced sizable recruiting deals, and MAI Capital Management moved to double its AUM with a big acquisition. Read about it below.

JPMorgan pulls teams managing $1B+ from UBS

JPMorgan is moving into Austin, Texas, with a pair of advisory teams recruited from UBS.

The largest of the two teams is called the Neff Group and had moe than $1 billion at UBS. It's led by John Neff and his sons, Thomas "Brad" Neff and Michael "Greg" Neff.

John Neff started his career in 1980 and joined UBS in 2000 after stints at various other firms, according to BrokerCheck. Brad Neff and Greg Neff both started their careers with him at UBS in 2008.

Joining them in Austin is the Buchanan Group, consisting of the advisor Bob Buchanan and his son, Robert "Mark" Buchanan. They had previously managed nearly $280 billion at UBS.

Bob Buchanan started his career in 1982 at a firm that eventually became the regional brokerage Dain Rauscher. Mark Buchanan began at American Funds Distributors in 2012 and moved to UBS in 2018.

The Neff Group and Buchanan Group teams are opening a new office for JPMorgan in Austin. They'll be part of J.P. Morgan Advisors, the firm's subsidiary that specializes in working with high net worth and ultrahigh net worth clients.

UBS has seen departures accelerate ever since it changed last year its compensation policies in a way that lowered payouts for some advisors on the lower end of the revenue-production scale. UBS reported in July that it ended the 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.

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors lands $1B team from BNY Mellon

Fifth Third Bank's channel for independent advisors has brought in a three-member team formerly affiliated with BNY Mellon in Colorado.

Stephen Starzec, Scott Ulaszek and Sarah Williamson are joining Fifth Third Wealth Advisors in Denver. They had formerly managed roughly $1 billion at BNY Mellon.

Starzec started at Wells Fargo in 2001 and was most recently a client strategist and senior vice president at BNY Wealth, according to BrokerCheck and LinkedIn. Ulaszek, who isn't registered as a broker, was last a principal and senior wealth manager at BNY. And Williamson, also not registered as a broker, was also last a senior wealth strategist at BNY Wealth.

Fifth Third started Fifth Third Wealth Advisors in 2021 with a goal of recruiting advisors mainly from private banks. The subsidiary now has $6 billion in assets under management and Fifth Third wealth president Eric Housman has stated his goal is to eventually have $10 billion.

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Raymond James pulls Commonwealth teams managing $880M amid LPL purchase

Raymond James has recruited three advisor teams from Commonwealth Financial Network amid that firm's purchase by LPL Financial.

The teams moving to Raymond James from Commonwealth managed $880 million in total. The largest of them, Hinkson Wealth Management, consists of three advisors and managed $450 million in client assets for Commonwealth out of Troy, Michigan.

The team is led by the advisors Gregory Hinkson, Adam Miller and Thomas Boogren. Hinkson started his career at Waddell & Reed in 1991 and eventually moved to Commonwealth in 2005. Miller began his career at Commonwealth in 2007 and Boogren started there in 2022.

Raymond James has been the biggest magnet for Commonwealth advisors following LPL Financial's announcement in March that it was buying the firm for $2.7 billion. Data from the industry-tracking firm AdvizorPro show that Raymond James has added more than 60 former Commonwealth advisors since the purchase plans were made public.

LPL has set itself an ambitious goal of retaining at least 90% of Commonwealth's advisors and AUM — roughly 2,900 advisors and $285 billion at the time of the sale announcement. The analyst firm Wolfe Research wrote in a note Monday that departures from Commonwealth have accelerated in recent weeks, but "we still see a credible path to >90% retention based on our analysis of prior deals, with peak attrition typically occurring 3-6 months post announcement."

The second-largest team Raymond James picked up from Commonwealth this week goes by the name FlahertyColvin and had managed $305 million in client assets out of Westerville, Ohio. The team consists of the financial advisors Stew Flaherty, who started his career in 1972 and was at LPL for 27 years before joining Commonwealth in 2013; and Tami Colvin, who started at LPL in 1991 and was there for 22 years before also leaving for Commonwealth in 2013.

The third ex-Commonwealth team to join Raymond James is Village Wealth Management, which had managed $125 million in client assets out of Dundee, Michigan. It's led by the financial advisors David Devantier, Brandon Proctor, Isaiah Bross and Ross Terrasi. Most of them started their careers at Commonwealth and had only been at the firm for a few years.

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LPL recruits team with $715M in AUM from Cetera’s Avantax

LPL is adding to its presence in Ohio with a nine-member team pulled from Cetera's Avantax subsidiary.

The group, led by Patrick Burke and Matt Tarka, is joining LPL's offices in Cincinnati. They had previously managed $715 million in client assets at Avantax by Cetera. Avantax, a firm specializing in the tax considerations involved in financial planning, was acquired by the independent broker-dealer Cetera in 2023 in an all-cash deal valued at about $1.2 billion.

The group of former Avantax advisors now joining LPL started as an accounting firm more than 40 years ago and added wealth management to its services about 15 years ago. Burke was initially licensed with HD Vest Investment Services in 2011 and moved to Avantax in 2016. Tarka was first licensed with Merrill in 2019 and joined Avantax in 2023 after stints at several other firms.

Joining them at LPL are the advisors Molly Myers, Nick Groman, Tim Powell and Dean Johns, the paraplanner Jake Burke and the client service associates Josh Wentz and Justin Lehkamp.

Bloomberg News

LPL recruits team with $700M in AUM from Wedbush

LPL is putting down more roots in Texas with its recruitment of a large team from Wedbush Securities.

Skyward Financial, a firm founded by father-son duo David "Lynn" and Matthew Houston, along with Ross Stripling, has joined LPL in Houston. The team had previously managed $700 million in client assets at Wedbush.

Joining them are senior client service associate Carlie Clayton, managing directors Jerry Axelrod, Lisa Marcelli, Mike Hamilton, office manager Valencia Linton and vice president of operations Steven Phan. Lynn Houston started his career in the early 1970s and had affiliations with a large number of firms before joining B. Riley Wealth Management in 2012 and Wedbush in 2021. Matthew Houston started in 2003 and also joined B. Riley in 2012 and Wedbush in 2021 following stints at various other firms. Stripling was at B. Riley from 2016 to 2021, when he also joined Wedbush.

RBC returns to UBS well for advisor with $300M in AUM

RBC's U.S. wealth management division is building its presence in Texas with another advisor pulled from UBS.

Carol Mani Johnston is joining The Evergreen Private Wealth Group, an RBC Wealth Management - U.S. team managing $1 billion out of San Antonio, Texas. Johnston had previously managed $300 million at UBS.

Johnston started at Rauscher Peirce Refnes in 1984 and was at Smith Barney for most of her career before moving to UBS in 2013. The team she's joining at RBC is led by the father-son duo of Phillipi and Join Friesen and also consists of financial advisors Greg Bowman and Josh Zeleskey, senior financial associate Karen Shaw and senior investment associate Bonnie McKinney.

RBC has seen considerable success recruiting from UBS over the past year or so. In July, for instance, it announced it had picked an eight-member group formerly managing $1.7 billion at UBS.

RBC reported earlier this week that it ended its latest quarter with an additional 27 advisors, bringing its global total to 6,218. It doesn't provide a headcount number specifically for its U.S. market.

MAI Capital doubles AUM to $60B with purchase of Evoke Advisors

The large RIA aggregator MAI Capital Management is bringing roughly $27 billion in client assets with its acquisition of the advisory firm Evoke Advisors.

The deal, expected to close within 30 days, will boost MAI Capital's assets under management to roughly $60 billion, about twice what it is now. Evoke Advisors is a Los Angeles-based firm that specializes in working with high net worth and ultrahigh net worth clients, including athletes, entertainers and Hollywood executives.

Evoke will remain a separate brand under the MAI umbrella, and managing partner David Hou, president Jane Eagle and family office and tax services co-president Jay Sanders will become managing partners at MAI. The purchase deal, whose terms weren't disclosed, marks MAI's 14th acquisition this year.

MAI, which was founded in 1973 and now has nearly $32 billion under management, itself has long had experience working with wealthy athletes. Its purchase of Evoke Advisors is meant in part to bolster the family-office types of services it can offer to its high net worth and ultrahigh net worth clients.

"MAI was founded more than 50 years ago with a simple belief — that athletes and entertainers deserve high class financial guidance," Joe Mclean, MAI managing partner of family office and sports and entertainment, said in a statement. "Today, in combination with Evoke, we're building one of the nation's premier family office platforms, serving both the sports and entertainment world and the broader UHNW community with the same dedication and precision.

MAI Capital is majority owned by the private equity-backed firm Galways Holdings. It also has sold a minority stake to the RIA investor Wealth Partners Capital Group.