A former UBS advisor with in excess of $1 million annual production joined an independent brokerage firm in the US, a trend the brokerage firm’s chief operating officer said is likely to continue.

The NYSE-listed firm Raymond James announced it has poached Steve Crabtree, the former UBS advisor with more than $180 million in client assets, as senior vice president of investments for its Franklin, Tennessee advisory branch.

Raymond James’ COO Chet Helk said there are likely to be more announcements of large producing advisors leaving “marquee brand” Wall Street firms to join independent brokerages.

“We haven’t seen all of this play out yet,” Mr Helk said in an interview with WealthBriefing.

“Advisors who find themselves under new ownership are waiting to see how things are playing out, but many feel they have been sold one too many times already,” he said.

Mr Helk referred specifically to the formerly independent AG Edwards advisors who were bought last year by Wachovia Securities, and are now waiting to see if they will be swallowed again in the slated acquisition of Wachovia by rival US bank Wells Fargo, a deal that is yet to receive final shareholder approval.

“We’re finding the advisors that are the most successful and the most independent are the ones that are now discovering they are the least dependent on a marquee brand to give advice,” said Mr Helk.

For the 12 months ending September 30, Raymond James increased its advisor headcount by more than 200 in the United States from 4,336 to 4,548.

“When UBS closed its capital markets business here we picked up a number of talented people; when Bear Sterns went down we picked up an entire team of fixed income employees; now advisors who have a new owner [as a result of the M&A activity during the financial crisis] are looking around,” Mr Helk said.

Raymond James also has 89 advisors based in the UK, a number that has remained static during the last 12 months.

Raymond James has three wholly owned broker/dealer subsidiaries with more than 5,000 financial advisors serving approximately 1.8 million accounts.

Last month, Mr Helk was quoted as saying that Raymond James could be poised to make a "meaningful acquisition," to exploit the current financial turmoil.