$3.6B UBS Breakaway Launches RIA Cleros Wealth Partners

A financial advisory team has broken away from UBS and has launched independent registered investment advisor Cleros Wealth Partners with $3.61 billion in assets under supervision. 

Cleros Wealth is led by founding partners Kyle Kight, Alex Armstrong, and Jamie Packer, and provides financial planning, investment management, and wealth management services to high-net-worth clients, endowments, and foundations. 

The team, which launched on October 30, previously operated as Thompson, Kight, Armstrong & Packer at UBS and serves clients in the Fort Worth and Tarrant County communities. 

The 11-person team includes Senior Client Service Associates Angie Bentley and Cindy Molina; Senior Client Operations Specialists Barbara Bodon and Tiffany Hayes; Investment Analyst George Marlow; Senior Relationship Manager Marlie Thomas; Relationship Manager Grace Wynne; and Client Service Associate Jennifer Watson. 

Cleros Wealth has selected Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions as its primary custodian, Elevation Point stated. 

Elevation Point has also taken a minority stake in Cleros Wealth, making it the investor’s 5th deal for the year and 15th partner firm overall, a company spokesperson said to Connect Money. 

“I’m fortunate to have spent the past 27 years working alongside some of the best financial advisors in the industry, including the original founding partner of our group, who was a true pioneer in the business,” said Kight. “Now, we have the opportunity to continue this legacy of doing what we do best for clients, with greater flexibility and more ways to serve them.” 

Cleros Wealth is yet another group comprised of advisors formerly affiliated with UBS to ditch the wirehouse and go independent, after Elevation Point also backed the launch of Las Vegas-based Truing Capital Advisors, Atlanta-based Bluff Capital Partners, and Harbor View Private Wealth. 

For the third quarter, which ended September 30, UBS reported 5,601 advisors in the Americas, down from 5,644 that was reported in the second quarter and down 3% from 5,773 that was reported a year earlier.

On the firm’s third quarter earnings call, UBS’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Tuckner dismissed the ongoing decrease in headcount, stating that turnover is normal for the industry as advisors continue to jump to independent firms. 

Since its launch in 2024, Elevation Point has invested in practices representing about $18 billion in client assets under supervision.  

Pictured: Kyle Kight (Left), Jamie Packer (Middle) and Alex Armstrong (Right)