UBS Grabs 11 Merrill Reps With $5 Billion in Assets

As retention deals wind down at the wirehouse firms, a number of teams are deciding to move.

UBS has recruited 11 Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) advisors in Southern California with a total of about $4.9 billion in client assets and an undisclosed level of yearly fees and commissions, the bank said last week.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo Advisors (WFC) says a UBS team joined it in New York with $129 million of client assets and yearly production of $1.3 million.

Moving to UBS last week in Los Angeles was the team of Mark Binder, Craig Chiate, Glenn Oratz and Scott Brown, which has managed $3.1 billion of assets for Merrill-BofA’s Private Banking and Investment Group. Binder joined the business in 1986, Chiate in 1993, Ortiz in 1989 and Brown in 2003.

One of four teams joining UBS in Newport Beach, Calif., is made up of James Axelson and Barry Porter, who manage some $550 million in assets. Axelson has been in the business since 1990, while Porter started his financial services career in 1988.

A second team now with UBS in Newport Beach is made up of James Chiate, PMP, and Anthony Guinane, CFP. They manage about $500 million in assets. Christopher Gaal and Jeffrey Hamilton also joined the Newport Beach with $575 million in assets; they have some 50 years of combined industry experience.

Coming to UBS in Encino, Calif., is David Mandel, who has been in the business for 32 years and now manages about $175 million in assets.