Brokers and Clients Leaving UBS Wealth Management Division

The current bear market has been one of the most brutal, since arguably the Great Depression. As the market sunk over the past couple of years, meant that many Wall Street firms had to eliminate staff in an effort to overcome the various challenges. In the case of UBS, the Wealth Management division has been hit particularly hard by the current bear market; as both brokers and clients are leaving the firm. What is taking place is the many of the various Wall Street firms are struggling to attract and retain talent. This is because the bear market has way of weeding out the ranks of brokers. In some cases, this can become severe, at which point, the different Wall Street firms could have trouble attracting talent. In the case of the UBS, they were hit particularly hard with broker and client defections. A good example of this can be seen by looking no further than the fact that during the fourth quarter of 2009, 202 brokers left the firm (this is 3% of the total workforce). The total amount of client assets that transferred out to other Wall Street firms was $11.2 billion.

What this shows; is that the current bear market has caused many of the nation's brokers to look at other firms. In the case of UBS, the negative publicity that they received from the tax dodging scandal is causing many of their top talent to go elsewhere. This is particularly problematic when the company is attempting to rebrand its overall image; with the new CEO Robert McCann is expected to unveil his new plans. Only time will tell, if the company can be able to prevent the hemorrhaging of talent and clients.