Raymond James lands $18.7B Synovus team as LPL adds UBS breakaways
About 70 bank and credit union advisors move to the Raymond James platform, while a $480M New Jersey team goes independent with LPL
Raymond James announced it is adding roughly 70 bank-based financial advisors who oversee approximately $18.7 billion in client assets, marking the biggest in a slug of midweek recruiting news that also saw LPL pick up a $480 million team from UBS in New Jersey.
Raymond James’ FID expands Pinnacle, First Tech partnerships
Raymond James and Pinnacle Financial Partners announced that around 70 advisors, currently registered with Synovus Securities, will move into Pinnacle Asset Management, the wealth arm of Pinnacle Financial Partners.
Pinnacle reports $129.1 billion in assets and is the largest bank headquartered in Tennessee and the largest bank holding company headquartered in Georgia. The bank already runs its investment program through Raymond James Financial Services.
The expanded partnership follows Pinnacle’s January 2026 combination with Synovus Financial. The advisors, who serve clients across the combined bank’s 10-state footprint, mainly concentrated in the Southeast, are expected to be completely transitioned over by May next year.
“Bringing these teams into our existing relationship gives us a consistent foundation for wealth management across the combined firm and marks another important step in bringing Pinnacle and Synovus together,” said Wayne Akins, Pinnacle’s head of wealth management.
The deal runs through Raymond James’ Financial Institutions Division, the St. Petersburg, Fla., firm’s unit for bank and credit union investment programs. Stephen Kruchten, the division’s president, called the move “a significant and highly strategic expansion of our longstanding relationship with Pinnacle Financial Partners.”
Pinnacle Asset Management expanded its presence in Florida last month when it reeled in a Truist team overseeing roughly $700 million in assets.
FID also notched a smaller win earlier this week through an expanded relationship with First Tech Federal Credit Union. Following its merger with Digital Federal Credit Union, five advisors from Digital Investment Services will join First Tech’s Addison Avenue Investment Services.
Digital Investment Services manages approximately $750 million and was previously affiliated with LPL. Addison Avenue, which is run by Raymond James, oversees approximately $6.8 billion in client assets.
“Bringing these two programs together creates an opportunity to build on the success of Addison Avenue while extending the resources, technology and capabilities of Raymond James to an even broader group of advisors and credit union members,” said Stephen Poole, senior vice president and program director of Addison Avenue.
UBS advisors bolt for LPL in New Jersey
Brett Mower and Timothy Gallagher have left UBS to launch LegacyCoast Private Wealth in Haddonfield, N.J.
The duo, who reported approximately $480 million in client assets, are affiliating with LPL Strategic Wealth, LPL’s supported independence model. Their clients include physicians, attorneys, entrepreneurs, small business owners and multigenerational families.
Mower entered the industry in 1995, working in investment banking and international institutional sales before moving to private wealth management in 2003. Gallagher has 16 years of industry experience.
“Our clients’ needs are becoming increasingly sophisticated, particularly in areas such as tax strategy and technology,” he said.
UBS has repeatedly insisted it sees the US wealth market as a priority, and its advisors are among the most productive in the industry. It claims its advisors oversee $353 million in AUM on average, and the firm is looking to expand its footprint among high-net-worth clients, defined as those with $1 million to $10 million in investable assets.
At the same time, UBS has been dogged by retention challenges, with one industry report by Diamond Consultants counting it lost 270 experienced advisors managing about $28 billion in the first six months of 2026.
In its most recent earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Todd Tuckner played down the losses, saying some net attrition is normal as the broader trend of wirehouse advisors making a break for independence contnues to play out.
