Research report · First half of 2026
The State of Financial Advisor Movement, H1 2026
Winthrop & Co. · Published July 23, 2026 · Updated October 8, 2026
Winthrop & Co.'s research report on the first half of 2026: how many producing advisors moved, how the four wirehouses fared on two lenses, where wirehouse leavers went, what recruiting packages paid, and the RIA deal market behind it. The headline figures are below. The full report, 20 exhibits across 13 sections, opens after a short registration.
Read the full reportThe headline figures
- 15,540 unique producing advisors moved in the half, per FINTRX registered-rep movement data prepared for the report. Producing advisors are reps actively managing a personal book.
- Roughly three in ten wirehouse leavers who re-registered went independent. Of the producing advisors who left a wirehouse and re-registered elsewhere, 16% went cross-firm to an independent broker-dealer and 13.9% to an independent RIA, and roughly six in ten stayed in the employee model, at another wirehouse, a regional firm or a bank. The 90 Wells Fargo Advisors moves into Wells Fargo's own FiNet channel are counted separately as channel conversions.
- The recruiting escalation continued. In the deals we work on in 2026, wirehouse recruiting packages run closer to 400% of trailing-12 revenue all-in, depending on your book of business. UBS's reported March 2026 recruiting offer, one firm's offer set against that channel figure, reached 550% of trailing-12 revenue on a 16-year commitment, depending on the advisor's book of business.
- Recruiting loans exceed $14 billion. Outstanding recruiting loans at six publicly reporting firms exceed $14 billion in aggregate, per their own filings.
- The RIA deal market set records. The report measures the first quarter of 2026 as the most active quarter ever recorded for RIA transactions, and DeVoe & Company's second-quarter Deal Book confirms a record first half on its lens as well.
The four wirehouses, on two lenses
Producing advisors count the reps carrying a personal book. All registrations also count trainees, bank-channel registrations and support staff, so the two lenses can move in different directions at the same firm.
| Firm | Producing advisors, in and out | Producing net | All registrations, in and out | All registrations net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wells Fargo Advisors | 396 in, 365 out | +31 | 1,366 in, 727 out | +639 |
| Morgan Stanley | 242 in, 245 out | -3 | 1,093 in, 623 out | +470 |
| UBS Financial Services | 77 in, 206 out | -129 | 473 in, 429 out | +44 |
| Merrill Lynch | 315 in, 570 out | -255 | 1,123 in, 857 out | +266 |
January 1 to June 30, 2026. Of the 365 producing advisors out at Wells Fargo Advisors, 90 moved into Wells Fargo's own FiNet channel, a channel conversion inside the firm. Both lenses: FINTRX registered-rep movement data prepared for the report.
The sections
- 00Executive Summary: The Inflection Half
- 01RIA M&A at Record Scale
- 02The Wirehouse Ledger, Firm by Firm
- 03Where the Assets Are Going
- 04The Recruiting Escalation
- 05Rent or Own
- 06The Production Ladder: Who Is Moving, and What They Move For
- 07Private Equity and the Capital Stack
- 08The Demographic Floor
- 09Channel Realignment and Supported Independence
- 10The Macro and Regulatory Backdrop
- 11Outlook and Implications for Elite Teams
- 12Methodology and Sources
The exhibits
- 1The Most Active Quarter Ever Recorded, on Every Lens
- 2Movement Is Migrating Upmarket
- 3The Record Is Made at the Top. The Volume Is Made Underneath.
- 4The UBS Departure Cadence, and the Bend in the Line
- 5The Wirehouse Ledger, Q1 2026
- 6Two Lenses on the Same Roster
- 7The Movement Ledger, Firm by Firm
- 8Where the Departures Went
- 9The Recruiting Escalation Curve, 1995 to 2026
- 10Recruiting Loan Balances, 2018 to 2025
- 11The Channel Map of Consideration
- 12The Broker Protocol Map
- 13Two Structures, Opposite Terminal Values
- 14The Mobility Map: Reading the Grids as a Bidding Sheet
- 15The Production Ladder at a Glance
- 16What Each Band Asks of a Destination Firm
- 17Retire-in-Place Economics, by Firm
- 18The Multiple Ladder, Practice to Platform
- 19The Retirement Wave Against the Replacement Pipeline
- 20The Crossing
Sources and method
Advisor movement, both lenses: FINTRX registered-rep movement data prepared for the report, January 1 to June 30, 2026, classified by Winthrop & Co. RIA transactions: Echelon Partners, DeVoe & Company and FINTRX, each as published. Firm results and recruiting loans: the firms' own earnings materials and filings. Section 12 of the report sets out the full methodology.
Rent or own: the referendum on who owns the advisory enterprise, in a full print edition and an interactive one.