Credit Suisse's wealthy private clients are not the only ones sought after by UBS. In the US, UBS is attracting staff from a bankrupt bank.
The personnel merry-go-round in American private banking is once again turning particularly quickly. The US banking crisis has triggered a veritable exodus of client advisors, especially at California's First Republic Bank which was taken over by JP Morgan after a bank run in May.
Six Teams Onboarded
According to «Advisor Hub», First Republic bankers managing assets of $50 billion have since sought greener pastures. That's about one-sixth of the pre-bankruptcy wealth management volume. UBS can hope for a few hundred million dollars from that total. According to the report, at least six advisor teams of the former First Republic have surfaced in the New York and Boston offices of UBS, which wants to become the world's second-largest private bank after the takeover of Credit Suisse.
On the Offensive
The new additions should be highly welcome at the Swiss institution. Together with Asia, America is considered a strategic growth market for UBS. As also reported by finews.com, the institute has launched a recruitment offensive in the US under regional head Naureen Hassan. According to the report, some 50 new advisors have been recruited since the beginning of the year, including from competitors Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo.
The number of UBS financial advisors in the US has grown more than 25 percent in the past three years. At the end of March, the bank had 6,147 advisors in the Americas.
