Report: UBS so bad 52% of its bankers seeking new job in 2025 (Why?)
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Wait until they see this years bonus numbers
What do you think they’ll be like vs last year?
Discretionary pool is smaller given guarantees, so will be lower for most unless many are zeroed out. Group heads have almost unlimited discretion
People don't want to be laid off, the bank merged last year and one of its publicly stated goals is to cut down "redundancies". We can read the tea leaves and are planning to leave accordingly. Nobody is safe except the dudes with huge bonuses from Barclays and CS, and those are all senior so not applicable to us. We have seen tons of our junior friends being laid off across almost every group. Before the UBS defenders come in; yes I am aware some groups haven't had junior layoffs, but most groups have.
Also some groups have gotten increasingly toxic like tech and M&T. Both groups were bad previously in terms of deal flow, but now they are bad AND toxic, not exactly a great combo to keep people staying. Meanwhile, LevFin seemingly works their juniors 100 hours a week and refuses to hire more people nor do they have the decency to move around the "redundant" people to the group despite the group seemingly publicly recruiting for laterals. The fact that LevFin has taken a decent amount of laterals from other firms and yet we have seen junior layoffs really goes to show how little they care about us.
Others can add more but I am frankly shocked it's only ~52%. Unless you are A) one of the rainmakers with a huge guarantee or B) someone who is set to leave for PE soon, I don't see why you don't look for a new job. There's no way that number is 48% given that no associate, VP, or director is likely going into PE nor do any of them have guarantees.
52% smart, 46% clueless, 2% Barclays nepo babies
The correct ratio is more like this:
52% smart, 10-15% fine, the rest of the people: going to be screwed over very soon most likely. 2% is a bit low; some groups like sponsors and LevFin haven't really had layoffs and half our seniors at the firm level are Barclays/CS guys presumably with tons of guartneed money.
Every barclays person brought is has a huuuuge gaurantee(including the mid levels). Group heads are mostly barclays so they can funnel the pool to them as well.
Know several people that have been told despite doing well this year they will not be top bucket and bonus will be mediocre due to barclays laterals.
Yeah firm operating like a circle beef-jerk-y
Forget top, if the guarantees are substantial enough then there are gonna be low buckets given to a fair number of people who deserve better
Buckets are all a dog and pony show. Group heads given guidelines but have full discretion to give whatever bonuses they want. This includes giving stealthy top buckets, like giving a Barclays nepo hire who is on paper a middle bucket to the firm, more bonus than equivalent level top bucket banker.
At the firm and I’m actively looking to leave
Same getting worse each year, ship is sinking
Short answer, because they know they’re at the risk of being laid off.
Is this that shocking of a figure? I would be surprised is ~50% of any bank’s bankers were NOT looking for another job in a year. Job sucks so much and most people hate it, it makes sense that about half are always looking for an exit
That doesn’t seem like a big number. I think my bank’s number is higher and things aren’t as precarious as they are at UBS. Banking is horrific, would imagine 50% looking to leave would be the floor in almost any IBD.
If you're a UBS/CS banker in any group that has seen a Barclays takeover (eg.Tech and M&T), you should be looking to leave, they just want to keep bringing Barclay's folks into those groups. For better or worse, the senior leadership has seemingly decided that the UBS teams there were not cutting it and decided to completely change things around. If you're in a group with some Barclays hires (HC and Consumer) except for some lower bonuses because of guaranteed comp you don't need to look for a job like those in the above groups. Not only have they brought in seniors in Tech and M&T, but they also brought in mid-levels and juniors, meaning they have no faith in any levels of those groups. Groups like HC and Consumer had very selective bringing of MDs, which is more in line with the traditional build-out of a group. Seems like FIG is also in a dumpster fire for completely different reasons as they lost a whole sub-vertical and haven't replaced leadership there, no idea what is happening there. If you are in a completely UBS/CS leadership-dominated group like GIG/FSG/LevFin that hasn't lost substantial MDs or EDs, you are probably fine as it's a sign the leadership thinks those groups are good enough. I am not going to comment on the broader moves by senior leadership, but their hiring decisions make it clear what they think about certain groups.
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