UBS Wealth Management has returned to the private bank well and recruited a Tampa, Florida-based team managing $1.3 billion in assets at Bank of America Private Bank, according to an announcement on Monday.

Jesse M. Flatt, Lea Ann Drew, Brandon C. Burns and Carlos A. Rodriguez will join UBS following a garden leave period required by their employment contracts. The group will be part of UBS’s Greater Florida/Gulf Coast market, which is led by Market Director Jack Heiss, who joined from Bank of America Private Bank one year ago. 

Private bank-to-wirehouse transitions are less common than traditional broker moves, according to industry recruiters who note that bankers have garden leaves and tougher non-solicitation restrictions.

In addition, none of the lead team members are registered as brokers or investment advisors. Their titles indicated they had roles in portfolio construction, administering trusts and planning rather than traditional advisor positions. 

UBS has sought to revive its veteran broker recruiting efforts by offering top-end recruits as much as 550% of their annual revenue. In April it reeled in a broker at Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch who produced $8.6 million. That broker had already left Merrill about two weeks before starting at UBS, according to registration records. 

UBS has previously shown its willingness to pursue private bankers aggressively. During a recruiting push five years ago, it upped offers specifically aimed at private bankers. 

“Firms know the disparity in portability, so the smart ones structure deals that reward the upside and still provide a soft-landing zone for the banker, while balancing their out-of-pocket cost/risk,” industry recruiter Louis Diamond wrote in an email. 

Private bank breakaways generally end up transitioning around a quarter of the assets they were managing, Diamond wrote. Some have more success depending on how loyal their customers are to the bank, other recruiters have said. 

Private bankers can be swayed to join firms like UBS which have “a grid based/entrepreneurial payout, more investment flexibility, the ability to build out their own team, and the desire to retain a balance sheet and top-tier brand,” Diamond added.

Flatt started as an intern in 2009 and had worked at RBC’s portfolio management unit Rochdale before moving to BofA’s private bank in 2024. 

Drew started as a trust officer at Barnett Bank in 1986, and worked at SunTrust Bank and Wells Fargo Private Bank before moving to BofA in 2012, according to LinkedIn. She had been a senior trust officer, according to UBS’s announcement. 

Burns started as a research and trading associate in 2007, and also worked at Rochdale before joining BofA in 2022. Rodriguez started as a trust administrator for SunTrust Bank in 2000 and moved to Bank of America in 2014.

A spokesperson for Bank of America did not respond to a request for comment. 

According to a separate announcement on Monday, Merrill recruited two advisors from Morgan Stanley who managed $620 million in combined client assets. 

In Chicago, Brie K. Edmunds, who spent the past 34 years of her career with Morgan Stanley and predecessor firms, joined Merrill on Thursday, according to BrokerCheck. She managed $400 million in assets, according to the announcement. 

In Nashville, Frederick C.  Dasso also joined Merrill on Thursday. He managed $200 in assets and had spent the past 27 years of his career with Morgan Stanley and predecessor firms. 

Both Edmunds and Dasso started their careers in 1997 and 1998, respectively, with Merrill, according to BrokerCheck.

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