Raymond James landed another mega wirehouse team ― this time a UBS group that oversaw $3.5 billion in institutional and retail assets. The announcement marks the second wirehouse hire in as many days for the regional brokerage firm.
It's also one of the largest moves of the year so far. A UBS team that oversaw more than $8 billion in institutional and private client assets went independent with Dynasty Financial Partners.
Raymond James' new 10-person team deals, in part, with institutional investments, helping to prop up the team’s overall assets under management, according to a company spokesperson. About a third of the assets the advisers oversaw were retail, and approximately two-thirds were institutional.
The new hires also further the company’s push into the Western U.S. and becomes the second financial planning group to join the Honolulu office of Raymond James' employee channel.
"The more teams we have," said company spokeswoman, "the more efficient we can be."
Led by managing director Ronald Kikawa, the group generated more than $5 million in annual fees and commissions while at UBS, according to Raymond James.
The advisers oversaw nearly $900 million in combined AUM, and moved to Morgan Stanley, Raymond James and HighTower.
"We have many institutional clients including foundations, endowments and a significant number of Taft-Hartley Joint Trusteed plans," Kikawa said, "so being able to advise them and keep the managers they trusted was very important to us."
Kikawa joined UBS in Honolulu in 2007, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. Previously, Kikawa worked with Smith Barney and has 40 years of industry experience.
The team also includes advisers Karen K.Y. Yasukawa, Gregg Matsuura, Wesley K. Yamamoto, Susanne M. Millard, and Paul Yamashita.
A spokeswoman for UBS declined to comment on the group's departure.
On Monday, Raymond James said it recruited a $500 million group from Wells Fargo.
