The move comes after UBS lost several high-profile US wealth adviser teams to rivals or independence
[NEW YORK] UBS Group is raising the payouts earned by its wealth advisers in the US, with the aim of retaining and hiring personnel at a time of intense competition for talent.
Earlier this month, the Swiss bank announced internally that it would increase rewards for the several thousand wealth advisers in the US, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing internal business decisions.
In a presentation, Rob Karofsky, co-head of Global Wealth Management, and Michael Camacho, head of US Wealth Management, detailed the following changes to take effect Jan 1:
- Increasing the pay rate for advisers that generate between US$1 and US$3 million of revenue
- Increasing the amount of the payout in cash for advisers that generate between US$3 and US$4 million
- Creating a new compensation tier for top advisers that bring in more than US$20 million a year in revenue
The changes follow reports of departures by UBS-affiliated wealth advisers in the US, with several high profile teams departing to rivals and others striking out alone. While the phenomenon is not limited to UBS, chief financial officer Todd Tuckner had warned in February that the bank would see a rise in “attrition” to other firms after it cut some elements of wealth-adviser compensation last year.
UBS declined to comment on the changes.
UBS, which is the largest wealth manager outside the US, has previously struggled to expand in the world’s largest economy. It operates with a network of financial advisers who, while they deliver UBS products to clients, are more loosely bound to the bank than regular employees.
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The Americas region suffers from the highest proportion of costs to revenue of any geography in UBS’s wealth management unit. UBS chief executive officer Sergio Ermotti has said the firm has the costs of a much larger organisation with fewer capabilities than peers, and damped expectations that it can close the gap to Wall Street titans like Morgan Stanley.
The newly-created US$20 million tier is one of the highest in the industry, with UBS paying out 60 per cent of the business generated, the people said. The bank is also increasing business expense allowances for advisers, and it also gives them the option to take more of their deferred awards in UBS stock.
In the new compensation grid, length of service is also factored in with brokers rewarded for their loyalty to the franchise. The bank is not only focusing on net new money coming to the firm, but also recognising return on assets as well as new relationships brought to the firm.
For the financial year 2024, UBS posted a total headcount of 5,773 financial advisers for the Americas, down from 6,002 a year prior. Hiring of advisers in the US picked up over the summer, one of the people said.
The health of UBS’s business in the US is of particular relevance as the firm faces heightened regulatory pressure at home in Switzerland. Bloomberg has reported that the bank has even considered moving its headquarters abroad to skirt a potential US$26 billion in increased capital requirements. The US would be a logical choice given its market size.
“With a book value of the investment at US$32 billion, the US operation is likely to account for a large part of the capital that UBS needs to build up,” RBC analyst Anke Reingen said in a note on Wednesday. She also highlighted lower profitability in the region.
Still, UBS’s business in the US “is a unique opportunity to expand,” especially in wealth management, Reingen said. “UBS is unlikely to want to sell the US operation just to avoid the capital add-on.” BLOOMBERG
