Overview
UBS Group's campaign to reshape its U.S. wealth management business faces fresh challenges after a wave of client asset withdrawals and adviser departures, according to industry sources and analysts. The bank's financial statements show $14.1 billion of net new asset outflows in the Americas during the fourth quarter, contributing to a net outflow of $6 billion in the region for the year.
Those outflows come as UBS pursues growth in the U.S. market while also responding to Swiss regulators' moves to reconsider capital requirements following the 2023 rescue of Credit Suisse. Guidance on those potential changes is expected to be clarified this spring, a development that could influence the bank's U.S. strategy and capital planning.
Adviser departures and destinations
Nearly 200 U.S.-based financial advisers left UBS over the past year, according to three industry sources who requested anonymity when discussing personnel shifts. A fourth source corroborated that advisers moved to competitors including Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Charles Schwab and Canada’s RBC.
UBS reported 5,772 financial advisers at the end of 2025, a decline of 196 advisers compared with the prior year, based on its own financial disclosures. Sources cited several reasons for departures: higher pay packages elsewhere, broader access to resources and perceived growth opportunities at rival firms. UBS enacted changes to adviser compensation in September, and in February promoted former wealth chief operating officer Lisa Golia to oversee hiring, retention and compensation for advisers.
Profitability targets and management perspective
The bank has set a 15% pre-tax margin target for its U.S. wealth division this year. That number reflects progress from a previous margin of 9.3% that rose to 13% last year, but remains markedly below rival regions and peers: roughly half the profitability UBS achieves from wealth management in Europe and the Middle East, and well under the 35% margin in Asia the bank reports.
UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti has pointed to the improved U.S. pre-tax margins as evidence the turnaround plan is taking hold. On the bank's February earnings call, Ermotti said the planned turnaround in the U.S. wealth business was working. At a Miami conference last month he noted that some advisers were not sufficiently profitable, saying that changes were necessary to lift returns.
"We can’t fix that issue of restoring pre-tax profit margins by being overly popular with people that are not growing their businesses," he said, adding that the bank had to let go of some client relationships whose business did not justify the capital allocated to them.
Part of UBS' U.S. strategy is to leverage its national banking charter, which was approved in January, to offer expanded banking services. Ermotti has cited loan growth and the introduction of new products as levers to catch up with competitors.
Competitors' hiring and team moves
Rival firms have been active in recruiting experienced teams. Canadian bank RBC attracted 90 experienced financial advisers to its U.S. wealth arm in 2025; roughly 80% of those hires generated more than $2 million of revenue, according to RBC’s head of advisor recruiting, Amanda Dolan, who also noted that some of the largest and most sophisticated teams came from UBS.
Wells Fargo’s biggest addition last year was Hingham Street Partners, a substantial Boston-based team recruited from UBS in December that was managing $6.3 billion at the time. Wells Fargo confirmed the hire but declined further comment.
Bank of America recruited a UBS team in Providence, Rhode Island, managing around $800 million led by three executives in January, after hiring former UBS teams in Texas and California late last year. Bank of America and those executives declined to comment. Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley declined to comment on hiring advisers from UBS.
Advisers’ motivations
Individual advisers who left UBS cited pay erosion after years of cost cutting and frustrations with support and resources. One former UBS adviser who opened an independent practice after more than a decade at the bank said that moving independent increased his share of fee revenue to 70 cents of each dollar before taxes, up from 50 cents previously. Another long-tenured adviser cited inadequate support as a reason for switching to a rival.
Market reaction and investor concerns
Investors have reacted to the uncertainty: UBS shares have declined nearly 21% this year as the market awaits clarity from Swiss authorities on capital requirements. KBW analyst Thomas Hallett described U.S. wealth performance as a "key concern to investors," noting that UBS’ global inflows target of $125 billion this year was a modest increase from $101 billion last year.
Morgan Stanley analyst Giulia Miotto likewise emphasized that reversal in U.S. flows will be necessary to convince investors the division's turnaround is sustainable.
"We think the market will want to see a change in trend in U.S. flows to gain confidence in the turnaround in this division," she wrote in a note, adding that such a shift was unlikely before the third quarter.
Outlook
While UBS highlights improving margins and structural steps such as the national bank charter to broaden products and lending, industry sources and analysts say the recent asset outflows and adviser departures complicate efforts to rapidly scale profitably in the U.S. market. The bank's ability to restore investor confidence appears tied to a demonstrable change in U.S. net flows and a stabilization of adviser retention, milestones analysts say may take quarters to materialize.
Note on market analysis tools mentioned
The article referenced an external evaluation tool assessing UBSG among other companies, discussing how such analytics analyze fundamentals, momentum and valuation. The tool's commentary appeared in the context of investment idea generation and did not change the facts reported above about UBS’ assets, adviser counts, margins or competitor hiring.