Wirehouse advisors

Dueling announcements Friday show that UBS is still struggling with advisor retention even as it brings in a new executive to oversee its recruiting efforts.

RBC pulls $1.2B and $705M teams from rivals, Merrill gets a $420M duo, and several large M&A deals close.

The Couch Group's return to Morgan Stanley is the latest evidence that UBS hasn't been able to stop the recent wave of advisor departures.

Also, an Ex-Truist/Balentine duo start an RIA, Raymond James grabs a team from Wells Fargo and Janney names a new head of advisor recruiting.

Merrill wealth co-head Eric Schimpf says the firm does about as good a job as its rivals in drawing in net new assets. But given Merrill's relationship with Bank of America, "We can do better."

Scott Posner, who's in charge of advisor and institutional recruitment as LPL's business development head, on why LPL leads in advisor "capture" at a time when fewer teams are switching firms.

LPL CEO Rich Steinmeier said the firm is nearing its goals for retaining Commonwealth Financial Network's assets and advisors, freeing up internal recruiters to bring in advisors from other firms.

Wells Fargo pulls $722M in AUM from Merrill while Osaic adds a $540M team from Primerica (but gets sued); Stifel sells independent unit, and First Clearing names new head.

Unpopular compensation changes at UBS continue to drive advisor attrition, costing the firm billions in client assets. But despite the outflows, executives say the new policy is helping improve UBS' profits.

The Swiss wealth management giant says many of its U.S. clients now "largely rely on other banks for their everyday banking needs."

Wells Fargo also pulls from Merrill and Raymond James again from Commonwealth, while AlphaCore buys up a big RIA and the FPA gets a new CEO.

Industry compliance experts say there are few more complicated decisions than knowing when to leave a firm and start your own advisory practice. The government shutdown is making it worse.

Dynasty Financial Partners' investment bank joins Diamond Consultants to help departing teams vet transition options, whether that's joining another wirehouse, selling to an RIA aggregator or starting their own business.

The wirehouse leaves its basic paygrid untouched for the fifth year in a row while giving advisors extra incentives to tout banking products and work with existing clients' children and grandchildren.

The awards recognize early-career brokers that have created top production numbers at their wealth management firms.

Janney also adds teams from Morgan Stanley and UBS, while LPL Financial picks up advisors from Janney for its direct employee channel.

Along with bringing in new households and assets, the Bank of America wealth management units are turning to loans, alternative assets and other offerings to do more with existing clients.

The largest wirehouse also reported a record quarter for wealth management revenues built on strong asset inflows in the third quarter.

Also remarkable: the size of the teams that are leaving and the types of firms benefiting from the defections, a new report from Diamond Consultants finds.

Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf also points to investments into the firm's independent channel as helping to retain advisors and curtail departures to other firms.