Hiring Watch ’15: UBS

Are you an investment banker? UBS wants to hear from you, A-SAP!

Author:: Jon Shazar
Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: May 8, 2015

Work here! Please?

If you’d like to be part of the extremely modest resurrection of UBS’ formerly left-for-dead American I-banking division, Andrea Orcel would love to see a résumé. And why not? There’s nowhere to go but up. Probably.

Since the beginning of last year, UBS has boosted its ranks of senior investment bankers in the U.S. by about 25, or 20%, according to a spokeswoman...The recent acceleration in hiring shows UBS still has ambitions for the cyclical, yet at times highly profitable, investment-banking business—even if they are more measured than before...UBS is expanding from a dramatically reduced employee base following successive waves of banker departures in the wake of the giant credit losses and other missteps. In its securities-and-investment-banking division, UBS had 11,794 employees as of last year, down from 23,739 on the eve of the financial crisis in 2007.

UBS Sets Sights on U.S. Investment Banking Again [WSJ]

If you know anyone who's interested.

The Swiss bank is said to be planning a big round of cuts in the investment bank with the aim of saving a bunch of money, which it will then spend on luring in "more promising talent." is embarking on a new round of job cuts within its investment bank, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Swiss bank grapples with a downturn in business that shows few signs of abating and considers a further restructuring of the division. UBS will begin notifying employees Wednesday of a new round of job cuts totaling roughly 400, the people said. Additional job losses that could run into the thousands may quickly follow. According to one of the people, there is a "good probability" that when UBS discloses its third-quarter results next Tuesday, it will make clear which businesses it intends to focus on in the years to come, and which ones it will de-emphasize...This week's jobs cut will be spread roughly evenly across North America, Europe and Asia, one of the people said. They will fall more or less evenly on fixed-income trading, equity trading and corporate finance, although the latter will bear slightly more of the brunt than the former two divisions. While these job cuts are mainly mean to cut costs, they are also part of a plan to cull the worst performers from the investment bank's ranks and create room for it to hire more-promising talent, one of the people said. UBS Plans More Job Cuts [WSJ]

This year, UBS will take the guess work out of knowing your worth.

The Swiss bank is making its would-be junior mistmakers wait for it. "UBS is delaying return offers to summer analysts from August 10th to mid-September, probably to assess how severe layoffs will be."

UBS is said to be embarking on a "fresh round of cuts" in the investment bank, starting with the team in Europe. UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, plans to cut about 80 to 90 jobs in its European investment- banking division as part of a global revamp, according to two people familiar with the matter. The cutbacks, which are likely to take place before year- end, would amount to about 17 percent of staff within the region’s investment-banking division and include junior and senior bankers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The division includes merger advisory and equity and debt capital markets. The reductions probably will kick off a fresh round of job cuts within the broader investment bank, which includes UBS’s fixed-income and equities units, said the people. [Bloomberg]

The Swiss bank is said to be making the young ones wait to hear if there's room at the inn. "UBS is delaying return offers to summer analysts in S&T from late August to God-knows-when. Reason provided: "It's difficult to bring key decision makers together due to 2-weekers [taking their mandatory vacation]"

Remember last week when UBS called New York based employees the day after Hurricane Sandy to tell them they no longer had a job, and communicated the same news to London-based staff by deactivating their ID cards and cutting off their email access? The bank is hoping everyone is at the point where they can laugh about all that, as apparently management got a bit overzealous with its firings-- these things happen in the heat of the moment-- and actually let go of a few too many people, who are now being offered their jobs back. UBS has brought back several employees who were put on leave when it unveiled a drastic pullback from fixed income last week, and more could follow, sources familiar with the situation said. The Swiss bank stopped dozens of traders from reaching their desks in London last Tuesday, when it unveiled an exit from most of its rates and bond trading businesses in a strategic overhaul that will lead to 10,000 global layoffs. The bankers were placed on special leave until further notice, while in the United States UBS fired several fixed-income employees by phone. UBS has already brought back a small handful of employees who were on leave, two people familiar with the matter said. It could also ask more to return or rehire some where needed, said three other sources, including UBS insiders, adding that some desks were now too thinly staffed to operate properly, if they were desks the bank ultimately wanted to keep going. No hard feelings? UBS takes back some traders on leave amid overhaul [Reuters] Earlier: UBS Takes Swift Action On Job Cuts; Layoffs Watch ’12: UBS Tells Employees Not To Bother Themselves With Figuring Out How To Get Into Work (Ever Again)