UBS Cites Multiple Reasons for Ousting a Top Broker
UBS Financial Services has told regulators that it fired Craig D. Findley, its acclaimed multi-billion dollar Ohio-based advisor, for violating firm policies “including, but not limited to, training, outside activities and reporting of business travel.”
The Wealth Management USA unit of the large Swiss bank has not commented on what insiders said was its surprising decision last week to dismiss one of its top brokers.
Findley, 49, operated a 30-plus person team in three states that reportedly oversaw $6.1 billion of customer assets, was credited with $1.1 billion of those assets and served as co-chair of a committee advising UBS management on concerns and priorities of the firm’s 6,000-plus U.S. brokers, according to his team’s former website and sources familiar with his practice. He ranked as one of Barron’s Top 1200 Advisors for eight of the past nine years, and was cited as well in other industry polls.
The terse explanation of Findley’s dismissal was sent to state regulators in a summary of the firm’s U-5 termination notice that was reviewed by AdvisorHub.
UBS explicitly said that the termination was not related to sales or client-related issues. But the U-5 language—including the use of “outside activities” rather than the more common termination cause of unauthorized “outside business activities”—suggests personnel and expense issues, said people familiar with compliance and legal notices who declined to be identified because they were not familiar with Findley’s case.
People at the branch he managed in the Toledo area and at satellite offices of the “Touchstone Wealth Partners” group he co-headed in Ohio, Florida and New York City said they could not comment, or declined to comment. A UBS spokesman did not respond to questions about the filing with the state regulators.
His dismissal raised eyebrows because of his internal prominence and because of UBS Wealth Management USA’s focus on retaining high producers at a time when it has been cutting its recruiting budgets. In spite of those efforts and its attempt to limit departures by exiting the Protocol for Broker Recruiting, UBS has lost more than 100 experienced advisors in recent months to competitors, according to an internal report.
(On Friday, Geoffrey Merl—a first vice president at UBS’s Miamisburg, Ohio, branch who had spent his 15-year career with the firm—left to become a producing manager at a nearby Wells Fargo Advisor private client group branch in Easton, Ohio. Three other advisors on The Synergy Group where he worked remain with UBS.)
Brokerage firms have in recent years tightened up on enforcing violations of so-called soft policy issues such as expense account and personnel issues, as well as on outside business activities that can potentially influence an advisor’s business behavior. Once treated relatively benignly, particularly for top-tier advisers, such violations have garnered more attention from regulators that have triggered suspensions for individuals and failure-to-supervise sanctions for firms.
Findley, who began his brokerage career 26 years ago and joined UBS from Merrill Lynch in late 2011, could not be reached for comment, and did not return requests for comments left with his former colleagues and a family member.
A video on Touchstone Wealth Partners’ website that prominently featured Findley that was live late last week had been taken down as of Monday morning.
Melissa Estrich, the former team administrator for Touchstone, confirmed in a brief phone call on Monday that she has left UBS. She said she left about a week ago voluntarily and was not terminated.
Her career path as a registered representative at Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch and UBS paralleled that of Findley at Smith Barney, Merrill and UBS, according to BrokerCheck, which as of Monday still listed her as registered at the Sylvania office. Findley’s BrokerCheck says he has not been registered with Finra since April 23, and neither his nor Estrich’s records disclose customer, regulatory or legal issues.
Someone needs to call FINRA and IRS needs to audit this guy. If a firm takes this guy, they better be ready for a big suspension.
David, Do you work for UBS or are you deaf? If this guy is bad, what do you think of UBS who has broken every tax law in the world and stuffed PR Bonds down clients throats?
UBS has multiple cases of lost defamations suits – just look on this site for them.
The reality: Craig figures out how to stay ahead of the ever changing UBS comp plan and brought teams around the country in the fold to maximize FA pay & support. This being at the cost of complex & regional directors who have had it out for him for a long time.
When a wirehouse wants to pull a Mueller investigation on you and look at all your expense reports (which UBS pushes on the FA via Mandatory payroll deduction) and the dozens of ridiculous internal CE requirements— guess what — your going down…
I don’t think he’s a bad guy, probably just the kind of guy UBS does not want anymore; an entrepreneur!
What the hell does the IRS have to do with this? If this guy did something wrong, FINRA will investigate and punish him for it. Guys like this often get picked up by second and third tier firms like Ameriprize or Stifel Nikolas so he’ll find a job. Maybe you should, too.
I think why someone said the IRS will be involved is because he claimed to be a Florida resident for years to avoid Ohio income tax but he lived in Ohio the entire time, and was a branch manager. It doesn’t help when his business traveler days do not match with state income returns.
I would never work at a Wirehouse ever again! They can find a reason to fire anybody for any reason.
If what you allege is correct, and you sound like someone who is mysteriously in the know on this guy, the IRS would not get involved because what you are saying would involve the state taxing authority in Ohio, not the IRS. The Feds aren’t concerned with the payment of state income taxes, just the ones due to the Feds. Out of extreme curiosity, how would you know how he filed his income tax returns? Are you his wife or something?
He was at Smith Barney, then Merrill Lynch, and then UBS. What’s next? Wells Fraudgo? Or Morgan Stealey? Perverse incentives drive rotten behavior, and rotten behavior rewarded is rotten behavior repeated again and again and again.
Perhaps before people indict this fellow, they should wait until all the facts are out. Where has the presumption of innocence gone? I don’t know what happened here, and I doubt anyone else does just yet, either. But I do know there are advisors who have been fired for very questionable reasons and maybe this is one of those situations.
Every time I read one of these stories, I count my lucky stars that I left the MS prison in 2013 and founded my own RIA firm. Life is good.
UBS blows. Anytime they terminate an advisor, they throw everything they can on the person’s U5 to make it look as bad as possible. Actually, several firms are guilty of that type of thing. I’m surprised there weren’t allegations of excessive use of the office stapler and failure to attend church regularly included here.
This guy better find a hot shot ambulance chaser and a kick-a$$ headhunter, because he’s going to need both!
The smart money here sez he already has both, not that either one of them are going to be able to do much for him. Me thinks he is in a world of hurt but he may not realize it yet.
Supposedly Mr. Findley headed up a big team. Wonder if one or more of them are planning on staying at UBS and trying to hang on to the clientele?
Every other advisor on the team is still there. Supposedly some of the assistants are also gone, but it was voluntary. Just a matter of time before he opens his own RIA.
By himself?