In the United States, the Swiss bank is taking in fewer interns and trainees for its wealth management arm. What is UBS' aim?
Tom Naratil, head of the UBS Wealth Management Americas division, expects 30 percent fewer interns are to be hired, according to a report by Reuters. Those trainees taken in will preferably have useful work experience, Naratil indicated, and entrance hurdles for trainees are to increase and the training intensified.
In fact, the bank expects to spend two to three times more time on training the trainees than has been the case so far.
The new training program will last three years with development activities throughout, and the trainees will receive a salary during the first two years. Up until now the trainees were only paid for seven months.
Millennials Prep
UBS intends to drill its employees to meet the needs of future customers. As according to Naratil, the new clients will be the most affluent in history, this UBS also needs to up its game.
In the coming years, roughly $30 trillion so-called baby-boomer wealth will pass to the millennials – a major challenges for established private bankers.
Roughly half of UBS' American brokers are over 55, according to Cerulli Associates. Naratil is hoping for a productivity boost by pairing trainees from professions like the military or pharmaceutical sales with experienced advisers.
When senior advisers retire and clients' children inherit their wealth, the trainees will be well-positioned to take over their accounts, the firm is hoping.
Higher Productivity
At the same time, however, the UBS Americas boss also promises a productivity gain for the established consultants, if trainees with sales experience are placed alongside them. «Our success depends on the improvement in the productivity of our consultants,» Naratil says.
The Swiss bank already generates the highest earnings-per-consultant among brokerages. This is also due to the fact that the bank only serves customers with at least $1 million.
UBS is not alone with its pace in the training policy: Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have also put more muscle into intern training. Up until now, Wall Street banks lose roughly half of the graduates they train within in the first five years.
