Raymond James Lands $890 Million UBS Team in Charlotte as Departures Continue

A four-person UBS team managing $890M in Charlotte has joined Raymond James, adding to the ongoing advisor exodus from the Swiss bank.

Raymond James has recruited a four-person advisory team from UBS that managed approximately $890 million in client assets, adding to the steady stream of departures from the Swiss bank that shows no signs of abating in 2026. The team, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, joins Raymond James's employee channel.

The group, led by senior vice president Marcus Whitfield, had been with UBS for seven years and previously spent a decade at Merrill Lynch. The team specializes in serving corporate executives and business owners in the Carolinas, with a particular focus on equity compensation planning and concentrated stock position management.

Charlotte has become a key battleground for advisor recruiting in recent years. The city's growing population of corporate executives — driven by the expansion of financial services firms, technology companies, and healthcare organizations in the region — has made it an attractive market for wealth management firms of all sizes.

Raymond James has been steadily building its presence in the Southeast, recruiting more than a dozen teams from wirehouses in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida over the past 18 months. The firm's appeal to departing wirehouse advisors centers on its culture, technology platform, and flexible affiliation options — advisors can join as traditional employees, independent contractors, or through the firm's RIA custody channel.

"Raymond James offered us the ability to maintain our service model without the bureaucratic overhead that had been growing at UBS," Whitfield said in a statement. "Our clients are sophisticated executives who expect responsive, personalized service. The Raymond James platform gives us the tools to deliver that while maintaining the independence to make decisions in our clients' best interest."

For UBS, the Charlotte departure is another data point in what has become a persistent talent drain. The Swiss bank has lost more than 50 teams since implementing its controversial 2025 compensation plan changes, and the revised 2026 plan has not yet succeeded in fully stemming the outflow. Recruiters report that UBS advisors in the Southeast remain particularly receptive to outside offers, in part because the region's lower cost of living means that the economics of independence are even more favorable than in higher-cost markets.

The $890 million team is mid-sized by wirehouse standards but represents a significant addition for Raymond James's Charlotte office. The firm's local branch has grown from approximately $3 billion in total client assets two years ago to more than $5.5 billion today, primarily through recruiting.

Industry observers note that Raymond James has been particularly effective at recruiting teams in the $500 million to $1.5 billion range — large enough to be meaningful but not so large that they attract the massive retention offers that wirehouses reserve for their biggest producers. These mid-tier teams often find that the economics of moving to Raymond James are compelling even without the nine-figure transition packages that headline-grabbing moves generate.

UBS declined to comment on the specific departure. Raymond James confirmed the team's arrival but declined to provide additional details beyond the public announcement.

What to watch: Raymond James reports quarterly earnings later this month, and CEO Paul Reilly is expected to address the firm's recruiting pipeline in detail. Analysts expect the firm to report another strong quarter of net new assets driven primarily by advisor recruiting from wirehouse competitors.