New UBS culture is trash
How’s everyone vibing with the new UBS or rather CS/Barclays culture? My team has zero UBS seniors left, and I’m not feeling this new vibe at all. Favoritism, no integrity, misogynistic comments, gossip, people getting punished for taking vacations, wtf. UBS used to be known for a better culture, but now, why would anyone join? The deal flow hasn’t changed, but now it’s also a cultural shit show. Anyone else feeling the same?
MAGA
MUGA!
What are the CS people like? Why are they firing more UBS people?
Most firings are ex-CS people at the junior level, but ex-UBS people at the senior level. The vast majority of the UBS senior firings are people who have essentially never brought in deals and the rest are people who cover sectors/companies that UBS just hired a more senior MD from Barclays/CS in(a lot of ex-Lehman dudes who were rainmakers at Barclays had the people sharing their coverage be fired for example). I wouldn't be too worried as a junior UBS analyst as analysts are always last to be fired, the vast majority of analysts getting the sack at least so far are bottom-bucket UBS ones, and sadly a lot of the bottom/mid-bucket CS ones. I am using the vast majority here because there have been a few exceptions here and there, but what I said is the general trend in the firings.
Depends on the group. To be brutally honest, the groups where UBS was weakest are where the big cuts are happening, teams like Tech/HC haven't been strong for quite a while and also had the most # of people come in so biggest cuts. Groups like LevFin/Sponsors, who have historically carried UBS and have historically been strong, remain mostly run by UBS seniors with the new Barclays/CS seniors serving as supplements. Also, I think it's wrong to say those groups haven't had more deal flow, there are more deals in the pipeline though I will concede not every industry group with senior hires has seen the uptick. The sponsors/LevFin team remains fairly busy and it seems some of the industry groups have gotten more busy.
On the culture point, I absolutely agree: the new CS/Barclays folks have been negative about the culture and the old UBS culture seems dead. The culture was a huge part of the selling point of UBS and it's very tragic that culture has completely backslid. I think it now makes no sense to stay at UBS for more than 2 years before exiting into the buy-side given where the culture is, how low bonuses are, and the supposed expected layoffs incoming even if those layoffs are targetted towards the ex-CS people.
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UBS was chill, no fri late night to sun work. The CS slaves work all the time and expect everyone to be on all weekend all holidays
Based on my experience with the CS seniors in my team, they are quite bad at giving guidance and scapegoat the associates. Whenever I'm working with an ED or MD, they have no clue how to explain what they want. The VPs are just in a constant one-sided convo with them, no response at all. You also have to suck up and pretend to be their best friend. Plus, they gossip about the juniors and make inappropriate comments. They have their favorites from Credit Suisse and don't really want to work with UBS people. Some even straight up lie. The COO in my team told two people they wouldn't be laid off, and they were laid off that same week.
The juniors are more or less okay, but there's way less effort in teamwork. It's pretty much an "every man for himself" vibe.
Is Barclays known for having a bad culture?
Not all of Barclays I am sure, but the ex-Lehman people, yes. Coincidentally those are the ones who are the main rainmakers for the firm, some of who moved over to UBS, and thus all the bitching that is happening internally by UBS people.
Still searching for this Barclays now UBS rainmaker in the firm. Any ideas who the best new banker is?
Huge facetime culture.
I know of MDs from CS who have pulled all nighters in the office and stay in office all weekend and expect juniors to do the same (that was unthinkable at UBS).
Granted there are some legit big dawgs from CS (UBS didn't really have any) so I respect that aspect of it. But outside those select few feels like many of the MDs and EDs that stuck around may have been ones that were not able to lateral during the past year.....
I like many of the juniors though.
Very group dependent.
Ik some groups where there is no seemingly FT culture and in others where it remains. To be fair, as you mentioned, a lot of the CS and Barclays hires are genuine big-names who are rainmakers(some who have started already producing, others less so). I think TMT, HC, and CR naturally have seen the most shift in culture since they have had the most MDs and more importantly, senior noticeable named MDs brought in. I think Sponsors still had a few(3-4) rainmakers from CS who either jumped ship or came over, so assuming it might have an effect there given that CS sponsors ran lean + by far and away CS's best group. FIG and GIG also had some notable people come in, but the groups were already sweaty + the groups already had so many seniors that the new seniors weren't that much of a change. M&T within TMT particularly seems changed as some very solid CS M&T bankers have come in and been way more demanding than the previous TMT seniors(all just pitching vs now some deals, particularly in leveraged loans space/sponsors space).
To be fair, in the deal tables for the year: FIG, Sponsors, LevFin, and ECM have all taken a huge jump though the other big hiring spaces like Tech, HC, and M&T haven't jumped up as much as possible. I think internally there is pressure on those seniors brought in to produce and thus more pitches than ever + Facetime/all-nighter culture as those seniors try to prove their worth. Idt the sponsors or FIG banker who brought in the recent GTCR M&As or leveraged loans or (insert any of the like 10 $1B+ lead lefts UBS has announced recently) have to deal with that so are more likely much less stressed out and thus much less likely to pull all-nighters in the office.
I took some time off to visit my family in a war zone, and during that time, new MDs who came from cs and barclays criticized the length of my "vacation”. I'm grateful to be away from that environment now and would not work with such management. It's unfortunate that some groups lost the ubs culture, but this can happen at any large firm
Where did you end up leaving to?
Moved to a different bank. I’d say even though the market is not great these days, there are still opportunities out there
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The head of Insurance, the only legacy CS MD in FIG, has left UBS. This was the guy who covers GTCR, and Aon. Both deals brought in $40mm fees to the company but still was forced to leave simple because of politics. He doesn't get along with Vik, the current head of FIG in Americas and I have never seen Vik so happy when he made the team announcement that that MD is now gone. I had high hope for this upcoming bonus cycle next month but after this, it is done. Instead of being ranked top bucket and get $90k, I will be fired and possibly not getting a dime.
This is bound to happen given the political battles happening amongst the seniors in the coverage world. It sucks that the stronger senior in insurance lost that, but makes sense. Also, think sponsors coverage is held by the sponsors team and not FIG though obviously the MD had relationships with GTCR don't think he was the main coverage banker on it. Also to note, UBS still wins a majority of their fees off of their financing fees and not M&A(UBS is ranked 5th in LevFin leads and 12th in M&A this year for the Americas) and UBS still holds the CS book. UBS FIG has done extremely well this year and 1 MD loss isn't going to change that even if he was a strong MD.
Yeah all correct. GTCR is covered by the sponsor MD who was also from CS. The Asian MD in FIG thou helps to cover its portfolio company. Our fees are primarily from financing but from the coverage relationship. I’m concerned about the future of the team or even the group.
What’s his name?
Move was announced on Bloomberg, he went to BoFA you can easily find his name.
Is there some voluntary resignation programs ongoing as part of the integration?
No, they are just straight-up firing people. Some people have left, but a big part of it is also nobody knows who's getting the boot. Some of the firings have bene frankly shocking and seem mildly random. It also seems like it's politically based on the senior levels. Unless you are in a good deal flow group like LevFin, you aren't safe (not that LevFin has no firings, but that group is so busy that they are the one group at the firm currently hiring juniors so they are much more likely to retain people). M&A, GIG, and FIG are seeing a lot of firings including ones that are of mid&top bucket juniors but not of bottom buckets ones.
GIG is not seeing a lot of firings. There were some right after the merger, then some usual performance cuts at the start of the year, plus a couple later on but not large numbers and not top performers. This is just inaccurate.
You can certainly raise your hand if you’re planning to leave
I know of a few people who have left by asking their group head to lay them off. Definitely try that before quitting
New UBS culture is terrible terrible
I have been here since 2016
NEVER seen it this bad. This used to be place that while not perfect, was tight knit culture with teams that looked out for each other.
People barely socialize now, the new group heads from Barclays are complete robots, and there is insane politics with the new barclays leadership bringing in their "preferred" barclays mid level and junior guys only to then fire the existing CS/UBS people who are actually good people.
It's a complete takeover by them and honestly I don't get it. Why are they so amazing and deserve to run this bank if Barclays was run into the ground? I'm not impressed if you worked at Barclays sorry.
Existing CS people that came along for the merger were either in untouchable/great situations where they didnt care about the integration OR (and this is an important part), they simply couldn't lateral out of the shit show that was CS end of days (i.e. they really aren't that great). And some of these existing CS guys push the most insane decks for deals we have no chance of doing (90 pages, 15 different scenarios, last minute requests, insanely detailed pages that confuse the client etc). No wonder they aren't great bankers....
And as noted in first post, there is a weird culture now around looking down on people taking vacations. WTF.
I'd stay away from this place if I was in college/b school and looking for a spot in banking. Maybe if you can get into sponsors/lev fin its worth it, otherwise BE WARNED.
And last point I need to make.
Felt like before, UBS "knew its place" We knew that types of deals we should do and didnt waste time on big things that we could never get.
Sure the deal quality wasnt super high, but we made money and clipped average bonuses for years with minimized stress.
Now we think we are JPM/MS since we are combined. Thing is, just because we are a pro forma entity doesnt just mean the UBS brand becomes tier 1. Especially when we brought over the UBS appetite on the BS lending.
So just a lot of efforts on large deals that arent happening. Many teams doing multiple 120 hour weeks on deals that have 5% chance of going anywhere
Isn't it defeatist to not even want to attempt the bigger deals? Also given that UBS has been lead-left on a lot of the major financings this year, it seems like at least some teams(i.e. LevFin) are getting the bigger deals. There have also been some pretty sizeable marquee $1B+ FIG deals where UBS was a financial advisor this year. UBS isn't going to win deals to the same extent JPM/MS are, but it's just defeatist to not want to pitch them especially since there has been moderate success in some groups.
Also, is LevFin/Sponsors that much better than every other group? From what I gather from the recent comments on the firm, those are the only two competitive groups for UBS relative to the street, but I am confused as to how that can be possible if the industry teams are supposedly so weak. I mean wouldn't those two groups be completely dependent on other groups since they aren't industry experts on anything? I don't understand how this forum is in clear agreement that Sponsors and LevFin are so strong and every other group is so weak when by definition those two groups need industry expertise to get any of their Lev Loan leads. I can understand those two groups being the strongest for exits given CS Sponsors legacy and book, but I struggle to see how their increased deal flow hasn't meant more for the other groups.
Layoffs are seemingly random and driven by HR - strong performers who should not be getting laid off are getting laid off.
100% A top performer on my team was laid off because Barclays MDs started bringing in their preferred mid-level employees. One of them went from interview to offer in just one day lol
Yeah I dont understand how its allowed
Does anyone know what exits look like post-CS acquisition? I am sure some An2s who left went through off-cycle post-acquisition and I assume a lot of the AN1s who want to exit are going through/have gone through the recruiting process. So I wonder again what the exits look like and how they differ based on a group(Sponsors/LevFin vs a "worse but not bad" group based on this forum like GIG). I am an incoming summer, and although the culture has seemingly gotten worse not much I can do about that, and just want to maximize my exits and get some clarity as to what exits are realistic.
Network and try to lateral to a better bank during your summer and use your return offer as leverage.
Should I network before or at the moment by summer internship starts? Do you know when I should look to network once the summer begins? Also would still be helpful to know what exits look like in case lateraling doesn't work.
Things will improve in 2025 once we reach normalized staffing levels. Keep the faith!
Can confirm the same is at DB; The new CS hires bring highly toxic culture with them including senior MDs who think it’s okay to be rude and argue with juniors / other MDs on calls with 30 other people. Thankfully we have some people with some backbone at DB who call out this kind of behaviour - both senior and junior bankers. I think it’s a shame that DB which was known for having a chilled / laid back culture, is being ruined by these CS MDs who bizarrely despite coming from a similarly mediocre Bank as DB and one that was run into the ground, still have some wrong impression that they are god’s gift to investment banking.
lol so you must be in consumer. Hires in other groups are not like this. I.e ones from other banks like Citi
You’ve made it clear you’re in consumer. FIG is not like this but
is the CS culture inherited from when it was First boston?
No, that was so long ago!
Anyone recruiting even in 2022 all picked CS over UBS and wouldve picked CS sponsors/M&A over most of coverage groups in mid-tier BBs in a heartbeat
Go cry about your insecurities elsewhere jeez
The idea that CS even post 2021 didn't have good seniors is a wild take given how strong CS sponsors are/were. CS Sponsors was a genuinely elite group and group had great talent. CS M&A wasn't all that, CS was a LevFin/Sponsors-based bank through and through. CS Sponsors carried the firm, over 50% of all revenues originated from that group. UBS sponsors are also absolutely hard-carrying the firm btw.
speaking from perspective of someone in the tech team - culture is very good across NY and SF. Staffers are well connected with the junior team and ensure good relations between the juniors and seniors. there are monthly round tables with MDs where you can shoot the shit or ask serious questions to learn more about coverage etc. No late Friday or Saturday work. There are live situations but seniors are very good about managing expectations (VP and up). There is a good mix of CS/Barclays people at the top vs. 50/50 CS/UBS juniors. Most of the MDs are nice and not toxic. Junior team goes for happy hours and there is no facetime culture. Sounds different to most of the other threads here which may be coming from notoriously sweaty and toxic groups (FIG/LevFin).
FIG is a mess, don’t go there. full of frauds and people who take themselves too seriously.
Isn’t TMT where they just PIP’d a poor kid whos been working real hard
not sure but PIPs were given to those who needed it…
Dude what are you talking about? FIG isn't even t3 sweatiest group at the firm. LevFin/GIG/M&A all work significantly more hours and basically, the LevFin/GIG people have to stay in the office well past 1-2 AM while typically FIG people leave the office much quicker (i.e. much less Facetime culture). FIG also has a robust junior culture which isn't the case for something like LevFin where it seems like all the juniors hate their job. I am not saying that the group isn't sweaty, but the culture is good compared to the other "top" groups. In my opinion, FIG is the second-best group when combined for exits, culture, and WLB behind Sponsors and the only reason I rank sponsors higher is that they are the best group at the bank,
Does FIG not have an internal conflict between fintech vs. others? Remember hearing how both are silo’d from each other and no one wants to work with shitty banks
Hmm I'm so confused right now. I'm on the TMT team, and my experience has been totally different. Most of the UBS analysts in my team are trying to bail. This feels like something a staffer or higher-up wrote to stop juniors from complaining about the culture. Some senior bankers are great, but some are complete disasters. The team I interned with is almost totally gone. They RIF'd some people recently – some were kinda meh, but some were actually good. A few wanted to leave and got a nice severance package. They cut legacy UBS folks, but there are legacy CS who don't even try as hard.
FIG and LevFin are some of the strongest groups, so I really don't get this comment.
Surprised that you were surprised at the RIFs.
FIG and LF are strong but just very busy.
Yea….
UBS FIG is paradise
To caveat, from London things are pretty nice tbh, the floor clears out rather early, ppl are overall pretty nice (can't help having a cunt there and there but overall genuinely good ppl) and it seems (I can't have the full picture as there're many teams and dk everyone) that deals are coming in decently. Not trying to glaze the bank but just pointing to the fact that the culture seems more a US problem
I'm legit jealous, the situation is very different in the US
To sum up as consensus-ish from these comments since it seemingly gotten pretty messy :
1) A lot of seemingly random firings happening
2) Groups that have had the most Barclays hires have seen the biggest loss of culture and the biggest increase in working hours with TMT both being hard with all the Barclays people coming in. Oh and a lot of favoritism from the seniors that Marco Valla brought over
3) The firm has overall improved with a particularly strong increase in LevFin/Sponsors/FIG/ECM deal flow but not much in the way of an increase in M&A/HC/TMT(? if all of TMT or just tech)/CR(not particularly talked about but implication since it wasn't mentioned anywhere as a group with huge increase in deals)/RELL(same implications as CR) deal flow. GIG is unsure of, not much commentary there deal flow-wise only that A) it's a strong group for the firm, B) hours are long and C) it has seen some firing. It would be great to get commentary on GIG given it's seemingly a strong group.
4) FIG has seen a lot of infighting among the seniors with seemingly UBS seniors coming out as the winner among the senior's politics. This has led to some senior FIG bankers who came over left, which might or might not impact the momentum the group has built so far this year
5) LevFin is a top 2 group at the firm in terms of exits behind only the recently split up sponsors group(which there has weirdly enough been no commentary on. Would be great to get some commentary on there from a purely culture perspective) but is notoriously toxic.
Think that is the rough summary of this thread, though it seems like a lot of groups were not opined on. The discussions seemed almost entirely around FIG, TMT, and LevFin which makes some sense as those as are all large groups but also doesn't make much sense because other groups like GIG are large but we haven't seen much discussion on.
Heard an MD told a bunch of juniors they should be doing pottery instead of banking than proceeded to layoff a whole bunch
….. what team was it?
Probably Tech
Do you guys feel like this culture has extended to O'Connor?
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