UBS employees feel disadvantaged: Major bank shaken by wave of layoffs

But now there are rumblings in the Switzerland-based divisions of the big bank. Swiss boss Sabine Keller-Busse and her colleague Iqbal Khan, head of wealth management, face similar challenges.

Bad mood at UBS

So far, the departure of top talent from Credit Suisse has made headlines. Now the turnover of veteran UBS employees is increasing. For example, Thomas Frauenlob, head of the global business with independent asset managers (financial intermediaries), joined Julius Baer. Sonia Gössi, who is set to take over management of the Swiss business in Bären after 19 years at UBS, is also moving there. René Zwicky, long-time regional manager for the asset management market in Zurich, has joined LLB to lead the Swiss business. The list goes on.

“The mood is bad,” some of UBS’s internal confidants told “Handelszeitung”. Many of the latest personnel decisions have been met with a lack of understanding within the company. And: Some UBS employees feel that they are at a disadvantage compared to CS employees, even though most management positions are held by UBS employees. There also seems to be criticism that there is not much left to the case for more women entering management jobs.

In this context, the candidacy of 10 regional directors at UBS Switzerland was also discussed. At UBS, the Central Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland and Zurich regions have consistently been among the top performing regions in internal rankings in wealth management, according to sources. One participant says: “But the regional manager was changed in all three regions, no one understands this.”

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What remains of the promise of diversity?

In Central Switzerland, for example, the title of regional manager was taken from Claudia Gasser and given to UBS employee Daniel Cottini, who is now responsible for corporate banking, the smallest area in the region, according to sources. In Eastern Switzerland, a new CS player Christoph Zeller has been promoted to the shield.

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In Zurich, CS woman Sabine Heller was supposed to take over the position of regional manager. He will now be replaced by Patrick O. Müller from UBS. This means that of UBS Switzerland’s ten regions, only Bern is headed by a woman: Christa Emminger de Grenus.

UBS does not want to comment on the appointment of individual regional managers. But the importance of the elements is put into perspective. Each of the ten regions has a division manager responsible for retail banking, corporate clients and wealth management. And one of these department heads is also a regional manager, who represents the bank as a first class among equals to politicians and the public in the region; However, it is said that the regional manager does not have the authority to give instructions.

But the names create unrest. Some UBS employees worry that they will miss the integration. Retention bonuses for CS players have been noted very carefully. “But we didn’t get anything,” says a UBS executive.

9 men, 1 woman: UBS regional directors

• Aargau/Solothurn: André Spycher (UBS)
• Basel: Patrice Kleewein (new, formerly CS)
• Bern: Christa Emmeninger de Grenus (new, previously Head of Private Clients Zurich, UBS)
• Geneva: Jean-François Beausoleil (UBS)
• Eastern Switzerland: Christoph Zeller, (new, previously CS)
• French-speaking Switzerland: Patrick Bourloud (UBS)
• Ticino: Luca Pedrotti (UBS)
• Valais: Iwan Willisch (UBS)
• Central Switzerland: Daniel Cottini (new, previously Head of Institutional Clients Central Switzerland at UBS)
• Zurich area: Patrick O. Müller (new, formerly UBS)

complex mixture

“UBS completely underestimated the situation,” says one banking expert. However, it also appears that the task of satisfying both parties in the integration process is almost impossible.

On the one hand, UBS management needs to offer perspective to good CS people. When it came to filling out the Swiss management team, they were given almost no chance: not only André Helfenstein, boss of CS Switzerland, and Jean Haas, who will be co-chairman of the joint investment bank in Switzerland, but also new venture boss Reto Müller came from CS and the new head of the Swiss He joined the UBS management team.
On the other hand, being ignored by UBS members means potential dissatisfaction as they are often supported by a group of long-term colleagues. “These cliques should not be taken lightly,” one person said.

Another reason why UBS students withdraw from school is the long integration process. “Very few people are interested in just dealing with integration issues in the coming years and prefer to work with clients,” says a rival bank that is new to UBS.

How much money is flowing out?

The question remains whether bankers leaving UBS will be able to transfer the client funds they manage to their new employers. Experience shows that, on average, only 30 percent of client funds are involved in advisors’ employer changes. A rival’s senior executive hopes that, in the face of unrest at UBS, the funds’ exchange rate can be increased by as much as 50 percent thanks to this special economic situation.

If Sabine Heller can really achieve this with her new employer, Lombard Odier, her employment and the salary increase rumored in the market will finally pay off for the Geneva-based private bank. UBS boss Sergio Ermotti has already announced that he will do everything in his power to prevent attempts to kidnap customers. The takeover of CS will leave the financial center hanging for a long time.