UBS hasn’t found the secret sauce, they’ve perfected the use of Thor’s magical hammer and are pounding away at rivals who’ve yet to figure out a way to match their efforts.
J. P. Morgan in particular is being completely bludgeoned with zero signs of the mass exodus of top talent slowing down. While a few private bankers from JPM have matriculated to Morgan Stanley, more than 90% have taken their talents directly to UBS.
Add those to the Merrill, Wells, and Morgan Stanley wins and UBS is so far out in front of its competition the race seems rigged. But it isn’t… rather it’s a well-executed recruiting strategy that may have seemed risky a year ago but has turned into absolute gold.
A two-fold ‘macro’ decision was made and has resonated in a way that has UBS up by 5X their closest competitor (Rockefeller) instated client asset transfer. As it stands today, UBS is a few bucks away from the first half of 2021 total of $60B in client assets recruited. Amazing.
Can they keep it up through the second half of the year? Not likely. But even if the pace slows, UBS could still end up with a $100B year. Unprecedented.
If you want to define recruiting domination – this is exactly what it looks like.
