UBS scores $2 billion Morgan Stanley team

After a relatively quiet second quarter for recruiting, UBS Wealth Management Americas is making headlines with the addition of a large team from Morgan Stanley that managed about $2 billion in assets. The team of four advisers, including Glenn Arthurs, Chris Malof, Jay Blair and Wyatt Arthurs, were responsible for about $10 million in annual revenue at Morgan Stanley, according to a UBS spokesman, Gregg Rosenberg. A spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley, Christine Jockle, confirmed the move, but declined to comment further. The four, who operate as the Arthurs Malof Group, joined UBS in Buffalo, N.Y., on Monday. Their business mostly involves working with wealthy and ultra-wealthy clients, and consulting for institutional retirement plans. The move marks a major hire for UBS after a somewhat quiet second quarter in which the firm brought on six teams and about $160 million in assets under management, according to InvestmentNews' Advisers on the Move database. The database tracks announced or reported moves, but may not be comprehensive, given that not all hires are made public. At the end of the second quarter, UBS said it had 6,948 advisers, down 2% from 7,119 a year ago. Morgan Stanley reported 15,771 advisers, down 3% from 16,316 a year ago. This Arthurs Malof Group move is the third large departure from Morgan Stanley announced this summer. In June, Raymond James & Associates Inc. said it had picked up a $2.4 billion team from Morgan Stanley in Boca Raton, Fla. Last month, a team with about $1 billion in assets left to join Jefferies Group in Miami. Morgan Stanley has also picked up a number of large teams, according to the database. Last month, it added a $1 billion team of two advisers from Barclays PLC's U.S. wealth management unit, the assets of which are being sold to Stifel Financial Corp. In addition, Morgan Stanley added a $1.3 billion team from UBS in May.