Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 25, 2026. Quick answer: you open an account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the account through ACATS. KeyBank Private Wealth’s brokerage and advisory accounts are opened and fee-scheduled through Key Investment Services LLC (“KIS”). KIS’s own published Investment Account Fee Schedule lists $100.00 for a full non-IRA account transfer to another institution, and the same $100.00 to close or fully transfer an IRA or educational savings account. A partial transfer of individual securities is billed separately at $25.00 per security.
The published numbers
From Key Investment Services LLC’s own Investment Account Fee Schedule (effective date June 1, 2024): “IRA and educational savings account closing or full transfer… $100.00” and “Full non-IRA account transfer to another institution… $100.00,” with “Partial account transfer to another institution (per security)… $25.00” as a related, smaller charge on the same schedule. KIS’s own site blocked a direct document fetch this session; the figures above come from a Wayback Machine capture of the same KeyCorp-branded, dated document, cross-checked against KIS’s own Form ADV Part 2A Appendix 1 (Wrap Fee Program Brochure), which confirms this kind of charge is billed separately from the advisory Program fee: “certain custodial charges that may be charged by a custodian such as a minimum account fee or charges for ACAT transfers… or certain non-brokerage related charges such as IRA trustee fees or IRA termination fees” are excluded from the Program fee. KIS’s advisory accounts are custodied at Pershing LLC, a different legal entity from Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC (whose own separately published Schedule of Maximum Charges does not apply here, since KIS publishes its own dollar figure directly).
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| KeyBank Private Wealth’s own general account-closure charge | $0.00 beyond the fees below; no separate flat closing fee found in KIS’s own Form ADV |
| Full non-IRA account transfer to another institution | $100.00 (Key Investment Services LLC’s own Investment Account Fee Schedule) |
| IRA or educational savings account closing or full transfer | $100.00 (same schedule) |
| Partial account transfer to another institution | $25.00 per security, a related charge on the same schedule |
| ACATS validation + completion window | 1 business day to validate, 3 business days to complete (FINRA Rule 11870) |
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Source: WiserAdvisor’s service descriptionThe sequence
1. Pull a current statement for every account, showing the exact registration, account numbers and complete holdings list. 2. Check the holdings for anything that will not move. Ask the receiving firm directly: “Can you hold every position on this statement?” Anything they cannot hold has to be sold, and in a taxable account that is a realised gain in the year you switch: the categories that commonly do not transfer. 3. Open the receiving account and sign the transfer form there. Under FINRA Rule 11870 the delivering firm then has one business day to validate and three business days after validation to complete. 4. Send a dated termination letter for the record: the generator writes it, and confirm in writing that billing has stopped.
Two things to get right
Cost basis. Under IRC §6045A the delivering broker must furnish a transfer statement carrying basis for covered securities within 15 days of the transfer. Keep your final statements anyway, and check the first statement at the new firm for positions showing a missing or zero basis. Retirement accounts move as a direct transfer, trustee to trustee, not as a distribution to you. Why that distinction matters. Whether a transfer fee is worth paying at all is a question of what you are moving to: our benchmark of published adviser fee schedules puts the weighted median annual cost near $2,000 to $2,500 on $250,000: the benchmark. The general mechanics: switching financial advisors.
Want to know what KeyBank Private Wealth charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from KeyBank Private Wealth’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Key Investment Services LLC, Investment Account Fee Schedule (effective June 1, 2024): https://web.archive.org/web/20250725165756/https://www.key.com/content/dam/kco/documents/wealth_management/kis_fee_schedule_0624.pdf
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Key Investment Services LLC firm summary (CRD 136300): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/136300
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Key Investment Services LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_136300.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 25, 2026, drawing on KeyBank Private Wealth’s own Form ADV/wrap-fee brochure/fee schedule plus each named custodian’s own published fee schedule, with sources linked inline; any figure we could not independently confirm this session on a firm-owned or custodian-owned document is named as an honest gap above rather than presented as verified. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.
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