Swiss bank UBS AG's (UBSN.VX)(UBS.N) U.S. brokerage said on Tuesday it hired the former head of insurance product management at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management to run the firm's overall insurance platform in the Americas.

Patricia Landau, who has worked in the industry for 25 years, joined UBS as executive director and insurance product manager. In her new role, she will partner with Clark Smith, head of wealth management insurance sales at UBS.

Landau was most recently executive director of insurance within Morgan Stanley Wealth Management's investment products division, where she was responsible for all aspects of their insurance practice.

Landau had previously been with Citigroup's (C.N) Smith Barney, where she was in charge of the firm's stock option plan businesses. She joined Morgan Stanley Wealth Management after the merger of Citi's Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley's wealth business in 2009.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) confirmed Landau's departure, but declined to comment further.

UBS Wealth Management Americas, formed out of the old PaineWebber brokerage, is the fourth-largest brokerage in the United States, following Morgan Stanley's wealth management unit, Bank of America Corp's (BAC.N) Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N) Wells Fargo Advisors. UBS has roughly 7,000 advisers across the country.