UBS lands $2.6B team from Merrill

UBS Group is picking up a team made up of many Merrill veterans and with roughly $2.6 billion under management as the international bank seeks to build its U.S. wealth management ambitions.

The Swiss-based UBS announced Friday that it had recruited TCG & Associates, an 18-member advisory team affiliated with Merrill, for its new office in Columbia, South Carolina. Merrill doesn't specifically list the assets under management by this team, but a source familiar with the matter put the figure at $2.6 billion.

TCG & Associates specializes in working with high net worth families, business owners and corporate executives. Its managing director is Michael Velasco, a registered investment advisor and broker with 30 years in the industry, all of them at Merrill. The team also includes Ladd Lumpkin, a wealth management advisor who spent the first 28 years of his career at Merrill; Larry Rowe, an advisor with 37 years at Merrill; and John McCabe, who was with Merrill for 30 years.

A Merrill spokesperson declined to comment. Members of TCG & Associates could not be immediately reached.

The TCG team is becoming part of the UBS Mid Atlantic Wealth Management Market. UBS's new office in Columbia, South Carolina, will be overseen by Katherine Schuba, a market director.

"We believe we have the strongest platform for financial advisors, and with our suite of high net worth capabilities, these talented professionals will be able to deliver the full power of UBS to their clients. We are thrilled to welcome them to the team," Ellen Pierce, UBS market executive for UBS Mid Atlantic, said in a statement.

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UBS's acquisition of its long-time rival Credit Suisse has cemented its position as the top global wealth managers but the firm has room for growth in the U.S. and other North American markets. In its recent second-quarter results, the banking giant announced its advisor headcount for its Americas region — which includes the U.S., Canada and Latin America — had fallen about 1% year over year to 6,071. 

UBS at times has been aggressive about trying to hold onto clients and assets managed by teams that have left for other firms. In August, it sued RBC Wealth Management in federal court over allegations that three advisors the Canadian bank recruited away from UBS had continued reaching out to clients in violation of nonsoliciation agreements they had signed. That team had managed roughly $5.5 billion in clients assets at UBS. RBC announced earlier the same month that it had recruited a UBS team managing $1.1 billion in client assets.

Separately, UBS announced Friday that it had recruited a two-person team that had managed $700 million at Merrill. Heather Phillips and Ted Hardenbergh will lead a group known as Phillips Hardenbergh Associates out of UBS's office in Manchester, New Hampshire. The move was first reported by AdvisorHub.