At a glance
- The report covers advisor movement at Merrill, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo, and attributes higher recruiting offers to increased competition.
- Diamond counted 1,449 experienced advisors, those with more than three years of service, leaving the four wirehouses in the first half against 932 recruited, for net attrition of 517.
- All of the experienced-advisor net loss came from Merrill, down a net 404, and UBS, down a net 182, according to the report.
Employee-model recruiting packages for "desirable" wirehouse teams can reach approximately 350% to 425% of trailing 12-month revenue, Diamond Consultants said in its first-half Financial Advisor Transition Report released Thursday. The report covers advisor movement at Merrill, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo, and attributes higher recruiting offers to increased competition.
Diamond counted 1,449 experienced advisors, those with more than three years of service, leaving the four wirehouses in the first half against 932 recruited, for net attrition of 517. That six-month total exceeded the four firms' combined net loss for all of 2025, the report said.
All of the experienced-advisor net loss came from Merrill, down a net 404, and UBS, down a net 182, according to the report. Morgan Stanley added a net 23 and Wells Fargo a net 46, with Wells' total covering all of its advisor channels, including the independent FiNet channel.
Among advisors who left a wirehouse in the first half, 46% chose an independent advisor model and 24% joined another wirehouse, according to the report. The share of departing advisors who chose a rival wirehouse fell substantially from 2025, while independence captured a larger share than in earlier periods. The report frames independent and RIA options as a different set of tradeoffs among upfront compensation, control, ownership and long-term enterprise value.
Merrill and UBS absorbed all wirehouse advisor losses in H1 2026
Net change in experienced advisors, first half of 2026
- Above zero
- Below zero
- Wells Fargo+46 advisors
- Morgan Stanley+23 advisors
- UBS−182 advisors
- Merrill−404 advisors
Show as table
| Item | Value (advisors) |
|---|---|
| Merrill | −404 advisors |
| UBS | −182 advisors |
| Wells Fargo | 46 advisors |
| Morgan Stanley | 23 advisors |
Large teams and more than 200 firms bidding
Diamond told Wealth Solutions Report by email that his two top takeaways were the number of large teams in motion and the number of firms recruiting them. The report identified 41 teams managing $500 million or more that left a wirehouse in the first half; 20 of those managed "north" of $1 billion in assets. "Those are the teams that move the needle," he said.
More than 200 unique firms recruited a wirehouse advisor during the half, Diamond told Wealth Solutions Report. "That is a staggering amount of choice and optionality for advisors today, and it means they are more likely to find their version of perfect," he said. In the report's introduction, he wrote that "Advisors have more legitimate alternatives than at any point in the industry's history."
Reported by the Recruiting & transitions desk from Wealth Solutions Report. Published . Corrections