By David Wignall

UBS Wealth Management swapped star players with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth last week, as the two firms poached advisors from each other.

Morgan Stanley lured Empire 360, a New Jersey-based wealth management team, away from UBS, according to BrokerCheck, a public database maintained by industry self-regulatory organization Finra. The group, led by advisors Angelo Amitsis and Kevin Reiner, manages roughly $750 million of client assets, according to data reported to Barron's rankings.

UBS, meanwhile, announced that it had recruited Houston-based William (Bill) Frisco from Morgan Stanley. Frisco, who manages $700 million of client assets, is an industry veteran with 42 years of experience.

Notably, both acquisitions are actually rehires, according to BrokerCheck. Amitsis and Reiner started with Morgan Stanley in 1998 and 2002, respectively, before both jumping ship to Smith Barney in 2006. They rejoined Morgan Stanley in 2009 when it acquired Smith Barney, then left again for UBS in 2016 and 2012, respectively. Empire 360's move back to Morgan Stanley this week thus marks its leaders' third stint at the firm.

Similarly, this is Frisco's second go-round with UBS. After stints at firms like Rotan Mosle and Everen Securities, he joined UBS in 1993, according to BrokerCheck. He then worked in UBS Wealth Management's Houston office until 2009, when he jumped ship to Morgan Stanley.

The moves come at a difficult time for UBS's Americas unit, which warned in January that it could experience a spike in attrition following changes to its advisor compensation plan. Last September, Morgan Stanley poached a team overseeing $2.7 billion from the Swiss bank. UBS has also recently lost high-profile teams to RBC and Sanctuary Wealth.

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June 17, 2025 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT)

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