UBS adds four-member team from Merrill that managed $3.1 billion

UBS Wealth Management Americas has landed a team of advisers who managed $3.1 billion for Bank of America Corp. clients, a UBS spokesman said Wednesday. A team comprising Mark N. Binder, Craig S. Chiate, Glenn A. Oratz and Scott A. Brown joined the UBS private-wealth-management office in Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to spokesman Gregg Rosenberg. An estimate of their previous revenue was not provided. Their assets-under-management figure includes debt from loans the team has made to clients, Mr. Rosenberg said. The team previously worked for the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Private Banking and Investment Group, where its clients primarily were affluent families. Three of its members held the title of managing director, according to a Merrill web page that has since been deleted. A spokeswoman for Merrill, which is a division of Bank of America, confirmed the team's departure but declined to comment further. Mr. Binder is the most senior member of the team, having started in the financial services industry in 1986, according to his UBS biography. Mr. Binder, Mr. Chiate and Mr. Oratz all have been featured on Barron's ranking of the top 1000 advisers in recent years. The deal adds to a wave of high-value advisers who have switched firms this year, including a total of 15 billion-dollar moves tracked by InvestmentNews' Advisers on the Move database.