Wirehouses

UBS Financial Services has picked up three financial advisors from Morgan Stanley in Arizona and Indiana who managed $467 million in client assets.

Four advisors with over $3.7 million in total production have jumped to Morgan Stanley from Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch.

The happiness of the independent advisor appears to be slightly overrated. By a slight but significant margin, advisors in RIAs aren’t as happy with their careers as those in wirehouses.

American Century Investments has named Joseph Schultz head of intermediary sales, responsible for the firm’s field and internal sales businesses, including wirehouses, regional and independent advisors, registered investment advisors, insurance company advisors and broker-dealer key account management.

Brian T. Moynihan, who endured record losses and public thrashings while cleaning up Bank of America Corp.’s mortgage mess, said he wouldn’t mind being chief executive officer of the lender forever.

UBS still sees a “challenging environment” for its wealth management business as clients remain reluctant to invest on a large scale, Chairman Axel Weber said.

Manulife Asset Management has expanded its equity capabilities today.

Ed Riley and Jonathan Miller will lead a new team catering to ultra-high-net-worth clients.

The firm has won over a $300 million team from UBS and its 10th recruit so far this year.

This latest addition follows RBC’s hiring of four Morgan Stanley advisors to the new San Diego office in November.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel’s rejection of compensatory damages requests from both Morgan Stanley and one of its former brokers is the latest example of how deals for sign on bonuses can sour when a new position does not work out.

Merrill Lynch has promoted Mary Ann Bartels to serve as chief investment officer of portfolio strategies within its Investment Management and Guidance group.

UBS’ latest hires come after Morgan Stanley hired several UBS advisors earlier this month.

Wells Fargo has hired 17 advisors to its standalone branches and added nine advisors to its independent brokerage business, Financial Network.

The firm continues to expand its presence in Florida with the addition of a second Wells Fargo broker.

Morgan Stanley, owner of the world’s biggest brokerage, will buy the remaining 35 percent of its wealth-management venture with Citigroup Inc. after winning Federal Reserve approval in the regulator’s annual stress test.

RIAs like to think of themselves as starkly different than their counterparts in the wirehouse channel -- in terms of fee structure, fiduciary responsibility, independence and, often, income. But a new study casts some doubt on the income part of that equation.

Kaminsky, who was the cable television network’s capital markets editor, will work with Morgan Stanley’s financial advisors on client development.

Raphael Zagury, Bank of America Corp.’s head of creating derivative investments for wealthy clients at Merrill Lynch, said he resigned.

The dually registered and registered investment advisor channels were the fastest-growing for assets under management from 2010 to 2011, Cerulli Associates reported today -- but the two are still dwarfed by assets in the wirehouse channel.