UBS Wealth Management Americas is starting a new program this week to help finanical advisors who want to leave the business find new homes for their high-net-worth clients. The incentives to participate could total 230 percent of their current production.
The program, dubbed the "Aspiring Legacy Financial Advisor" (ALFA) program, is open to advisors who have been with the firm for at least five years.
“In speaking with advisors who are transitioning out of the business, we heard loud and clear that they were looking for a solution that, above all, provided their clients with a smooth, seamless transition and this program provides exactly that,” says David Larado, head of the firm's net new money strategy at the brokerage.
Under the terms of the program, advisors would move their clients to another UBS advisor, usually the same person named in the retiring advisor’s succession plan, regardless of their age.
The payout calculation is based on the length of the retiring advisors' time at UBS, their total production, their revenue from wealth management services, their total team's production and net new money.
Advisors who wish to pull back but remain active can earn additional compensation based on a two-year transition plan that includes hurdles for growth of high-net-worth households and net new money.
Previously UBS offered advisers up to 180 percent of their annual production upon retirement. But under that program, in place since 2009, advisers needed to have been with UBS for 10 years.
Larado said Wednesday that program would be grandfathered in, but the firm will eventually offer only the ALFA option.
“This program allows the advisors that are looking to transition out of the business the best vehicle possible to do so,” Larado says. The program would pay out the compensation over a five-year time period, even though the advisors may have remained with the firm for the first two years.
Once an advisor enrolls in the program after having initial discussions with his or her field leader, the UBS advisor named as the successor receives 100 percent of the transitioned client assets on Day 1 of the program and becomes the broker of record for those accounts.
Advisors receiving the legacy advisor’s clients can also earn an annual 5 percent growth bonus for increasing the UHNW and HNW production in the transitioned households for up to five years.
