Wells Fargo Lands $6 Billion UBS Team in Biggest Q4 Recruiting Win

Wells Fargo continues to emerge as the biggest beneficiary of UBS's advisor exodus, recruiting one of the largest teams to move in Q4 with $6 billion in client assets and an estimated $39 million in annual revenue.

Wells Fargo has landed one of the largest advisor teams to change firms this quarter, recruiting a 16-person group from UBS that managed roughly $6 billion in client assets and generated an estimated $39 million in annual revenue. The team, known as Hingham Street Partners, operated out of offices in Boston and across New England before making the move.

The departure adds to what has been a brutal year for UBS on the recruiting front. The Swiss bank has seen advisors managing nearly $52 billion in combined assets walk out the door in 2025, a historic exodus triggered by controversial changes to its compensation structure that took effect in January.

Why They Left

Sources familiar with the move say the team had grown increasingly frustrated with UBS's 2025 compensation overhaul, which eliminated the team grid payout model and cut grid rates for junior advisors by up to four percentage points. The changes hit large, multi-advisor teams particularly hard, as compensation was now based solely on the highest producer's revenue rather than the team's combined output.

"When you have 16 people operating as a unit and the economics suddenly shift to reward only the top producer, the math stops working for everyone else," said Danny Sarch, president of Leitner Sarch Consultants. "That's exactly the kind of team structure UBS's comp changes were designed to squeeze."

Wells Fargo's aggressive recruiting posture has been evident all year. The firm hired a new head of advisor recruiting from LPL Financial in April, and the results have followed: Wells Fargo recruited 11 groups from UBS alone in 2025, more than any other firm.

The Bigger Picture

UBS's Americas advisor headcount has dropped 3.5% year-over-year to 5,779 by the end of Q3, with the bleeding continuing into Q4. The firm reported $8.6 billion in client asset outflows during the third quarter, a sharp reversal from $8 billion in inflows during the same period last year.

In September, UBS attempted to stem the tide by rolling out a more advisor-friendly 2026 compensation plan that included a 50-basis-point payout increase for advisors generating $1 million to $3 million in revenue. But recruiters say the damage has already been done. "You can't take away and then give back and expect people to forget," Sarch added. "The trust is broken for a lot of these teams."

Wells Fargo declined to comment on the specific move. UBS did not respond to a request for comment by press time.