As Big Firms Exit Broker Pact, Investors Are Uneasy
- 6 years ago
As Big Firms Exit Broker Pact, Investors Are Uneasy
“Firms leaving the broker protocol is very, very bad for clients,” said Phil Shaffer, the founder
and chief executive of Halite Partners, an investment management firm, who left Morgan Stanley last year after 24 years.
In the 1980s and ’90s, when an adviser left a wealth management firm — usually to go to a so-called wirehouse, or national brokerage
firm — the firm the adviser was leaving would file an injunction in hopes of buying time to persuade clients to stay.
“If the best adviser wants to be some place, the clients will make the best decision for themselves,”
said Brian P. Hull, head of the client advisory group at UBS wealth management for the Americas.
But with two of the largest wealth managers pulling out — Morgan Stanley has some 15,000 advisers; UBS has
about 6,500 — an industry agreement most clients have never heard of could have a major effect on them.
“Firms leaving the broker protocol is very, very bad for clients,” said Phil Shaffer, the founder
and chief executive of Halite Partners, an investment management firm, who left Morgan Stanley last year after 24 years.
In the 1980s and ’90s, when an adviser left a wealth management firm — usually to go to a so-called wirehouse, or national brokerage
firm — the firm the adviser was leaving would file an injunction in hopes of buying time to persuade clients to stay.
“If the best adviser wants to be some place, the clients will make the best decision for themselves,”
said Brian P. Hull, head of the client advisory group at UBS wealth management for the Americas.
But with two of the largest wealth managers pulling out — Morgan Stanley has some 15,000 advisers; UBS has
about 6,500 — an industry agreement most clients have never heard of could have a major effect on them.