UBS Adds Merrill Duo in Silicon Valley Producing $7.5 Million

By Intersection Advisory Staff · Advisor Moves

Published: September 28, 2026

Category: Advisor Moves

John Pham and Jimmy Yip joined UBS from Merrill Lynch in the firm's Palo Alto and San Jose, California offices. UBS announced the hire on September 25, 2026. AdvisorHub, in a September 28 story by Karmen Alexander, reported that a source familiar with the move said the pair produced $7.5 million in annual revenue at Merrill. Asset size is not a single number. One source told AdvisorHub they managed $575 million. A second source close to the team said the book was closer to $1.2 billion, with some assets that may take longer to transfer. UBS's announcement does not state revenue or assets. This draft does not pick $575 million or $1.2 billion. Both figures are sourced, they disagree, and the second source's caveat is part of the figure.

Who else changed firms, and who stayed at Merrill?

UBS said Pham and Yip are joined by client associates Leslie Vinoya, Kimberly Russell, and Randall Bane. AdvisorHub's account of the announcement lists the same three. A third source close to the former firm told AdvisorHub that two junior brokers and a client associate who had been part of the team remained at Merrill. The story does not name those three or say what share of either asset figure stayed with them.

The team is in UBS's San Francisco market, led by market executive Emily de la Reguera, and reports to Silicon Valley market director Jacqueline Kehoe. De la Reguera's statement in the UBS release says Pham and Yip "have built an exceptional team grounded in thoughtful advice, deep relationships and an unwavering commitment to their clients," and that their work with Silicon Valley executives, entrepreneurs, and families "makes them an outstanding addition to UBS and an important part of our continued growth in the region." Kehoe said she had worked alongside the team and that the relationships from her Merrill tenure were instrumental in the decision. AdvisorHub paraphrased de la Reguera as praising their experience with Silicon Valley executives and calling the hire an outstanding addition. The release is the fuller text.

| Item | What is public | Where it comes from |

| --- | --- | --- |

| People who joined | Pham, Yip, Vinoya, Russell, Bane | UBS announcement, September 25, 2026 |

| Offices | Palo Alto and San Jose | UBS announcement |

| Revenue | About $7.5 million | One source, via AdvisorHub |

| Assets | About $575 million | One source, via AdvisorHub |

| Assets, alternate | Closer to $1.2 billion; some may transfer more slowly | Second source, via AdvisorHub |

| Stayed at Merrill | Two junior brokers and one client associate | Third source, via AdvisorHub |

| Supervision | De la Reguera; Kehoe | UBS announcement |

What do the career records and the UBS bios say?

AdvisorHub, citing BrokerCheck, said Pham first registered with Merrill in 2004, left for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in 2008, and rejoined Merrill in 2013. The same account said Yip started at Smith Barney in 2005, worked at two other firms, and joined Merrill in 2014. This draft did not locate a BrokerCheck PDF that could be tied cleanly to these two advisors rather than to other people with similar names, so those dates stay attributed to AdvisorHub's reading of the database. UBS's release, which does not recite firm-by-firm dates, says Pham has more than 22 years advising Silicon Valley executives, entrepreneurs, and families, and that Yip has worked in financial services since 2004 and earned a bachelor's degree in business marketing from San Jose State University. "Since 2004" on the release and "Smith Barney in 2005" in AdvisorHub are close but not identical. Both are left as published.

AdvisorHub said Pham had not responded to a comment request and Yip could not be reached.

What did a source say about the offer they did not get?

The second source, the one who put assets closer to $1.2 billion, told AdvisorHub the pair had considered the move for several years and had looked at Morgan Stanley, Rockefeller Capital Management, and the independent broker-dealer LPL Financial. That source said their combined production fell short of a $10 million annual-revenue minimum for teams to qualify for a 16-year offer paying 550 percent of annual revenue. Those terms are what the source described to AdvisorHub. They are not a UBS compensation circular, and the firm's September 25 announcement does not mention a deal multiple, a note length, or a production hurdle. The only production number the first source attached to Pham and Yip is $7.5 million, which is under the $10 million bar the second source described.

UBS's notes to editors on the release say the firm managed $7.3 trillion of invested assets as of the second quarter of 2026. That is the global firm. It is not this team's book, under either asset estimate.

What else was UBS hiring that month, without borrowing their assets?

AdvisorHub said the hire extended a run of moves between UBS and Merrill as both firms put more emphasis on veteran recruiting. It said UBS had added former Morgan Stanley recruiting executive Ben Firestein and promoted Lisa Golia to head of the field, and that the firm hired three teams with $2.7 billion in combined assets from Morgan Stanley and Merrill during the month. Those three teams are not Pham and Yip, and $2.7 billion is not a figure to add to either $575 million or $1.2 billion. The same story said UBS executives had forecast better retention and recruiting in the second half of 2026 after compensation and management changes, and that the 2027 compensation plan left the core payout grid unchanged while adjusting incentives for growth and loyalty. That is firm policy context. It is not a description of this duo's grid.

The useful public range for the practice is the one AdvisorHub actually printed: $7.5 million of revenue, assets described by one source as about $575 million and by another as closer to $1.2 billion, five people named as having joined, and three unnamed people described as having stayed. [Advisor Pulse](https://intersectionadvisory.com/pulse) is where a later registration, if the stayed-behind brokers ever move, would show up as its own line. UBS's Silicon Valley hiring sits on the firm's own [firm-watch page](https://intersectionadvisory.com/research/firm-watch/ubs). How often a sub-$10-million team still clears a wirehouse hire in this market is a compensation-plan question, which belongs in the [Crossroads report](https://intersectionadvisory.com/crossroads-report) only as a pattern, not as a claim that either asset figure has arrived.

Sources

- https://www.advisorhub.com/ubs-snags-merrill-duo-producing-7-5m-in-silicon-valley/ — Karmen Alexander, September 28, 2026: $7.5 million revenue; $575 million and roughly $1.2 billion asset accounts; staff who stayed; BrokerCheck career summary; firms the team considered; $10 million / 16-year / 550 percent offer description from the second source; other UBS hiring context

- https://www.stocktitan.net/news/UBS/ubs-hires-financial-advisors-john-pham-and-jimmy-yip-in-silicon-beeqy4yrokvs.html — UBS Business Wire release, September 25, 2026: Palo Alto and San Jose; de la Reguera and Kehoe quotes; Vinoya, Russell, and Bane; Pham's 22 years; Yip since 2004 and San Jose State; $7.3 trillion firm invested assets as of the second quarter of 2026

- https://www.streetinsider.com/Business+Wire/UBS+hires+Financial+Advisors+John+Pham+and+Jimmy+Yip+in+Silicon+Valley/27106364.html — Business Wire reprint of the same UBS announcement