$2.2-Mln UBS Broker in Kentucky Breaks Away in Wake of Management Reduction

A UBS Wealth Management USA broker who dabbles in horse racing is betting on himself as he and a partner in his $2.2-million practice have broken away to join an advisory firm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Twenty-five year veteran Peter S. McFarland and Jeremy Chase, who has 12 years of experience, left UBS in early March, taking two client associates with them, to go to Meridian Wealth Management, a Lexington-based firm with $1.9 billion in assets under management.

McFarland had ranked #34 on Forbes’ best-in-state advisor list with $279 million in assets in 2022. 

McFarland said he cemented his decision to leave UBS after he lost a longtime manager as part of a reorganization that was announced in November and took effect January 1. The move left him reporting to a market manager in Louisville, an hour and a half away.  

“I would have had a really hard time ever resigning to that manager. He was a very good friend of mine,” McFarland said. He did not name the manager. 

A spokesperson for UBS declined to comment on the departure. UBS eliminated around half of its market roles overseeing its roughly 6,000 brokers as part of the reshuffle. 

UBS’s policy–in effect since 2021–of not paying advisors on accounts with under $250,000 in assets also spurred his exit, McFarland said. Such small accounts represent as much as 15% of his book, he said.

“I have to see those people in the grocery store,” he said about the clients who have those small accounts, which UBS pressed him to send to its roboadvisor.

McFarland has given up his brokerage license as part of the move. His BrokerCheck report does not show any outside business activities, although he said his horse racing activities, including ownership of a horse, had not been an issue. 

McFarland began his career in 1997 at a life insurance company, had a stint at American Express, and spent 10 years at Raymond James Financial Services prior to moving to UBS, according to his BrokerCheck record.

Chase began his broker career 12 years ago at Hilliard Lyons (now part of Robert W. Baird & Co.) but moved to UBS the next year, according to his BrokerCheck record.