Wells Fargo FiNet Snags $1.7B UBS Team
Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network has recruited a UBS team that had been overseeing more than $1.7 billion in client assets.
The eight-advisor team of Snow Pine Private Wealth, based in Wayzata, Minnesota, has left UBS to join Wells Fargo’s FiNet division. The team includes five support staff and focuses on families, entrepreneurs, and “first-generation wealth builders who created something from nothing,” according to an emailed statement from Wells Fargo.
The team is led by Managing Partner and CEO Derek Cherne, who had been with UBS for a total of 27 years, minus a stint at Citigroup in 2009, according to BrokerCheck. He is joined by advisors Keith Burke, Andrew Knutson, Daniel Miller, Dean Breitbach, Peter Knutson, and Clayton Knutsen.
“We’re excited to affiliate with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC as we continue serving our clients with the care, consistency, and long-term focus they expect,” Cherne said in a statement.
The move comes soon after Wells Fargo announced its largest recruiting win of 2025 in December, when it drew a UBS team managing $6.3 billion in client assets. Hingham Street Partners moved its full team of 32 to Wells Fargo’s Boston-based private client group on Dec. 2.
Earlier this year, FiNet brought in two Citigroup advisors who had been overseeing $1.2 billion in client assets. But even as it continues to recruit to the channel, an executive told Wealth Management earlier this year that it is preparing a revamped, fee-only RIA custody platform for advisors interested in that operating model. Wells Fargo plans to offer that option to the market in 2027.
UBS, in the meantime, has been a net loser of advisors recently, ranking third among firms that had lost the most advisors toward the end of 2025, according to Wolfe Research. Bank of America and independent broker/dealer Osaic were first and second by way of attrition, respectively.
The Zurich-based bank also lost a $1.3 billion team to the RIA sector, with Elevation Point helping them to launch with a minority stake in February. The Atlanta-based team that had been Odyssey Wealth Management under UBS is now Hampton Bluff Capital Partners.
UBS executives have said the firm expects attrition following changes to compensation aimed at improving profitability, but they anticipate the situation will settle in the second half of 2026, and have noted their internal succession planning program for advisors who remain with the firm.