November 10, 2025
Jason Diamond Quoted
By Dan Shaw
A three-advisor team with nearly half a billion dollars under management has boomeranged back to Morgan Stanley after a 12-year interim at UBS.
The Couch Group — composed of the cousins William and Gregory Couch, along with Eric Delagarza — is returning to Morgan Stanley in Watertown, New York, after leaving it in 2013 to go to UBS. The three advisors, joined by sales support staff member Wendy Ballou, had been managing roughly $450 million at UBS.
Diamond Consultant’s report suggested that many departing UBS advisors are looking for a new home in a familiar wirehouse setting.
“Morgan Stanley clearly offers clients stability and a known entity, and for advisors who like the wirehouse world but are discontented with UBS’ direction, Morgan Stanley represents a very compelling alternative,” according to the report.
Regional firms have benefited as well. On Monday, for instance, RBC Wealth Management-U.S. announced it had picked the five-person Heller Stieffel & Noto Wealth Management team, which had been overseeing $1.2 billion in client assets for UBS in New Orleans.
Diamond Consultants President Jason Diamond said in a message that while he’s unfamiliar with The Couch Group specifically, UBS is now a very different firm than it was even three years ago. “So maybe they had some buyer’s remorse,” he said.
When the three advisors in The Couch Group left Morgan Stanley in 2013, they opened UBS’ Watertown office, according to a local newspaper account. Before that, all three had been at Smith Barney at various times in their careers.
