News

What is happening inside the wirehouses: firm news, leadership, regulatory and legal.

• RBC Pulls $2B BofA Private Bank Duo in La Jolla

  Second BofA Private Bank hire into RBC La Jolla in about a month — Behun (MD) and Harris (SVP) with $2B+ firm-reported assets, under a Merrill-trained SoCal complex director, inside RBC's push to add 600 U.S. advisors by 2029. Private bank duo, left BofA Private Bank, joined RBC, La Jolla, $2B

• RBC Wealth Management Picks Former Raymond James and UBS Manager Shawn Bernhard to Run Texas South

  RBC Wealth Management named Shawn Bernhard, a former Raymond James and longtime UBS manager, complex director for Texas South, based in Houston.

• J.P. Morgan Advisors Loses a $4.8 Million Houston Team to Rockefeller

  A second J.P. Morgan Advisors team in a week has left, this time a $4.8 million Houston practice headed to Rockefeller, while partner Scott Holstead stays behind. left J.P. Morgan, joined Rockefeller, Houston, $700M

• Wirehouse Moves This Week: J.P. Morgan's $18.6B Latigo Peak Exit Leads as UBS Loses a Las Vegas Team

  J.P. Morgan's $18.6 billion Latigo Peak breakaway led a week that also saw UBS lose a Las Vegas team and add two New Jersey advisors. $18.6B

• Merrill's 2027 Advisor Pay Plan Keeps the Grid Flat, Raises the Growth Award Bar and Adds a Lending Bonus

  Merrill's 2027 advisor compensation plan keeps the core grid unchanged and moves the incentives into growth, banking and lending awards.

• RBC Wealth Management Adds Nepa/Susco Team From UBS in Pittsburgh, More Than $1B in Client Assets

  RBC Wealth Management has added the Nepa/Susco Team, which oversaw more than $1 billion in client assets at UBS, in Pittsburgh. left UBS, joined RBC, Pittsburgh, $1B

• RBC Loses $1.1B Baltimore Team as Rosenwald Private Wealth Goes Independent With Indivisible

  RBC Wealth Management has lost a Baltimore team overseeing about $1.1 billion to Indivisible Partners, the RIA founded by former Merrill wealth chief John Thiel. left RBC, Baltimore, $1.1B

• J.P. Morgan's Scott and Atwood Teams Break Away With $130 Million in Revenue to Launch Latigo Peak

  Two inherited First Republic practices producing more than $130 million a year left J.P. Morgan Advisors for a self-funded RIA, the largest wirehouse breakaway of 2026 by reported assets.

• Wells Fargo and Merrill Pay $4.4M to Eight States Over Minimum Commissions on Tiny Trades

  Merrill Lynch and two Wells Fargo broker-dealers will pay a combined $4.4 million and refund clients after eight states found they charged outsized minimum commissions on very small stock trades.

• BofA Takes $1.2B Money-Laundering Penalty, and Merrill's Own SAR Record Sits Close Behind

  Federal regulators hit Bank of America with more than $1.21 billion in anti-money-laundering and sanctions penalties on Oct. 13, and the findings point at the same monitoring system Merrill Lynch relies on for its own suspicious activity reporting.

• Merrill's Singer Maxey Team Joins Raymond James in Bend, Oregon

  Singer Maxey Wealth Management left Merrill for Raymond James in Bend with about $4.7 million in reported annual production, clearing WirehouseHUB's automatic coverage bar for wirehouse moves. Singer Maxey, left Merrill, joined Raymond James, Bend, $450M

• Strong Family Team Leaves UBS for Wells Fargo Advisors' Employee Channel in Naples and Birmingham

  Wells Fargo Advisors has picked up a three-generation family practice from UBS Financial Services, adding to a run of UBS departures that have landed at one Wells Fargo channel or another in 2026. left UBS, joined Wells Fargo, Naples

• Merrill and UBS Push First-Half Wirehouse Advisor Losses Past All of 2025

  The four wirehouses ended the first six months of 2026 with 517 fewer experienced advisors than they started with, according to an industry recruiting report covered this week by WealthManagement.com, InvestmentNews and Wealth Solutions Report.

• Ameriprise's Orchard Financial Group Moves to Wells Fargo FiNet in Los Angeles

  Orchard Financial Group, a Los Angeles practice that Ameriprise Financial had marketed as one of its private wealth advisory teams, has moved to Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, the bank's independent-contractor broker-dealer known as FiNet. Orchard Financial Group, left Ameriprise, joined Wells Fargo FiNet, Los Angeles

• Sentencing Pushed Back for Ex-Morgan Stanley Adviser Darryl Cohen in NBA Fraud Case

  The sentencing of Darryl M. Cohen, the former Morgan Stanley financial adviser a Manhattan federal jury found guilty in March of cheating three NBA players, has been moved off its original October date, court records show.

• Merrill Adds About $770M in Teams From Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo

  Merrill has pulled in two advisory groups that together report roughly $770 million in client assets, according to InvestmentNews, splitting the haul between a New York Park Avenue market hire out of Morgan Stanley and a Boca Raton addition from Wells Fargo Advisors. left Morgan Stanley, joined Merrill, $770M

• LPL Recruits Praxis Financial Partners’ $1.1B FiNet Team in Alpharetta

  LPL Financial said Monday that Praxis Financial Partners, an Alpharetta, Georgia planning practice that had been affiliated with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, has moved onto LPL’s broker-dealer and registered investment adviser platforms with about $1.1 billion in advisory, brokerage and retirement-plan assets. left Wells Fargo FiNet, joined LPL, Alpharetta, $1.1B

• Morgan Stanley Wins $1 Million Loan Award Against Cupertino Advisor Who Went Back to Wells Fargo

  An arbitrator ordered Calvin Shiu to repay the unforgiven balance of his 2022 recruiting note, plus fees and interest that is still running, after he left Morgan Stanley for his old firm in February.

• Merrill Agrees to Pay $39 Million to Settle Merrill Edge Retirement Cash-Sweep Class Action

  The proposed deal, which still needs a federal judge's approval, would end a 2019 suit claiming Merrill Edge retirement savers earned a fraction of a percent on swept cash while other brokerages paid about 2%.

• A $6.2 Million Charlotte Truist Team Joins Rockefeller

  AdvisorHub reported that Paul Irving, Gavin Shuck, and Brett Schmidt left Truist in Charlotte for Rockefeller on Wednesday, producing $6.2 million on about $1 billion. IAPD reports updated in April still list all three at Truist. left Truist, joined Rockefeller, $1B

• UBS Holds Its Grid Flat for 2027 While Morgan Stanley Hikes Revenue Hurdles 10%

  If you're fielding calls from UBS or considering a move there, the grid stability is real — but the real money is in the new succession advance, the 25% NNA bonus, and the banking services kicker. Run those numbers against what Morgan Stanley's tighter hurdles actually cost you before you decide anything.

• Wells Tells Most Producing Managers to Choose by Oct. 1

  Most of the roughly 100 producing managers still at Wells have been told, a person familiar with the plan said, to go advisor-only or drop the book by October 1. Wells confirmed the shift to larger complexes and declined to discuss the date.

• UBS Loses $1.3B Cullman/Holt Team to Wells Fargo FiNet Practice Ascend in Ohio

  The Cullman/Holt Group, with about $1.3 billion in client assets, left UBS on Sept. 29 for Ascend Advisory Group, a Dublin, Ohio, practice on Wells Fargo's FiNet platform. left UBS, joined Wells Fargo FiNet, Ohio, $1.3B

• Patrick Rowland & Jacob Sullivan Exit Wells Fargo FiNet, Bring $744M Practice to &Partners

  &Partners is systematically pulling established wirehouse and FiNet practices by offering full independence without the infrastructure headaches. If you're eyeing the exit from Wells Fargo's network, this is the template: stage an internal move first, test the independent model, then cut the cord entirely.

• Greenwood Wealth Partners' David Lorbiecki-Led $1.25B Team Exits D.M. Kelly for Raymond James as Merrill Bleeds Advisors to UBS and Ameriprise

  Merrill Lynch is hemorrhaging talent in both coastal markets and the Midwest simultaneously. If your book sits between $120M and $1.25B, every major platform—Raymond James, UBS, and Ameriprise—is actively building a case for your move right now. Greenwood Wealth Partners, left D.M. Kelly, joined Raymond James, $1.25B

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