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Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's a snapshot of the average total compensation for various positions at UBS as of September 2023:

  • Investment Banking Director/MD: $592k
  • Vice President: $392k
  • Associate: $260k
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst: $187k
  • 2nd Year Analyst: $169k
  • 1st Year Analyst: $168k
  • Intern/Summer Associate: $167k
  • Intern/Summer Analyst: $94k

These figures include salaries and bonuses, but specific bonus numbers are not provided in the context. Emotional reactions to compensation can vary widely based on individual expectations and experiences. If you're looking to share or compare your numbers, the WSO forums are a great place to see what others in your region and seniority level are reporting.

Sources: UBS no longer sponsors or offers return offers to those who need a sponsorship, UBS SA 2020, UBS groups - London, Summer Offer: UBS vs. Guggenheim vs. Rothschild (RX), UBS backtracking on Hybrid work

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Meh numbers across the board.

AS0 stub: $35k AS1: $60k AS2: $80k AS3: $100k

 

I mean this is in line with expectations, no? Bonuses are down across the board, UBS has too many juniors, and just made a costly acquisition of both CS and a ton of Barclays leaders. Most associates in my group seem fine with the bonuses but there could be group differences. 

 

Fuck I hate this bank so much.  Cs merger was a terrible moment for us and hate this barclays leadership takeover. Totally done with this place.   Canceling all my recruiting/coffee chats. You don't want to come here.

Existing cs people unhappy too.

Good luck ubs on your new mega deal only approach in 2024 without dishing out the balance sheet.

 

There are base pay bumps in the sense of the standard increase of pay from An1 - An2 if that's what you're referring to. There's no increase in base pay for that year(nor is there for any other BB).

 

I disagree. These bonuses likely say nothing about UBS's quarterly earnings - if anything, they might be a bullish signal on the quarter.

The IB is a pimple on the ass of UBS's wealth management business. UBS is a wealth manager first, second and third, and an investment bank fourth. IB results really just don't matter that much to UBS's overall results.

Also, the low bonuses are more likely to portend higher profitability than not....low bonuses mean UBS is paying less for talent. Everybody knows it's a shitty revenue environment for IB. Analysts are not forecasting big IB revenue. That's already baked into numbers. If anything lower IB expense is a potential source of upside (however small given above point that IB in general is only a small part of UBS's overall business).

Just my $0.02. We'll find out next week!

 

I can echo this same sentiment however with one major caveat which is that although IB may be a distant 4th, it still exists as a complimentary offering to UBS’ wealth management clients. Strategically if UBS shuts said offering down, they risk wealth management clients going to other IB’s for those needs and thus increase their chances of being poached over to other banks as a client. 

 

The analysts who got $0's are already looking, it's just a sign banks use that they will fire you.

 

Questions on this, does receiving the 0 translate directly to they are looking to fire you? or they are just heavily motivating you to leave? I thought the purpose was basically to convince you to leave with the horrible comp, but not outright let you go as the bank would have to pay for severance amongst other benefits. 

 

London - AS0 Product & Sector Bucket mid Stub: £25k Salary since August £110k (up from £85k w out CS merger)

Total comp (incl August £35k bonus and £25k AD promotional bonus): c.£170k

Most important bonus: promotional 2 extra weeks AD leave.

All in all some people really god f cked but the A3 (now called AD0) really received a god gift.

One thing to note is that the hours were horrendous the past 6+ months and CS people (not all) sat around did nothing and got paid roughly the same though they will be back paid I believe in August

 
Most Helpful

Region: EMEA
Seniority: AD 
Product / Coverage Group: Fixed Income / Market Maker
Salary: 155k
Bonus: 25k
TC: 180k
Emotional reaction: They f*cked us. Plenty of desks just waiting for the money to hit and are then leaving for greener pastures, lot of people taking meetings across town or just did not come back into office the day after, not sure which of them are out permanently and which are coming back. To be frank many people just feel exploited, nobody believes this narrative of bonus pool size due to CS takeover, everyone just feels lied to as its obvious this is a public perception play ahead of further cuts of CS people this year. Desks making 2-3x budget this year are getting half what they got last year. One highly successful desk in EM are already in discussions to leave and they were just recruited over recently, the mood on the floor is horrific, havent seen it like this ever. 

 

Bonuses were down from last year but not by more than 20%….in the context of the broader market backdrop, that’s more than reasonable. Coverage/product groups have different bonus pools so there’s a lot of inequality of payouts across class ranks - apples and oranges. If you got a $0 cash bonus, it doesn’t take Einstein to figure out the message there. 

 

Why would I lie? Even my original group in CS revealed bonus in February last year. Also this is more negative news for me because now I have to wait to see where I stack up 

 

I am no longer in IB. Was with friends who still are and heard about UBS comp complaints. Have a buddy who is higher up in UBS. Figured id come here and repeat what I heard cause fuck management and I really feel for you guys. End of March UBS is doing a major round of lay offs. So just be on the lookout. If you dont feel secure start looking at exit ops

 

This makes sense. The head of IB during his town hall earlier this week said literally 3-4 times that the division needs to be profitable in Q1.

Revenue hasnt picked up at all from last quarter (if anything things have gotten worse), so the only way we are profitable in Q1 is if significant Opex is stripped out before the end of Q1, the only which way to do so is mass layoffs

 

My understanding and I dont want to be specific to protect the source of info is they will be getting rid of CS and UBS employees. The decision comes down to the desk heads as to who they will prefer. I recall at UBS it was really hard to fire someone outright. Takes a year at least. End of March they are removing this obstacle one time only. This also goes for MO and BO. Pretty much is a purge of redundancies. And to your point, correct this is about major cost cutting to boost the numbers the easiest way they know how.  

 

Nice thats a crazy good bonus. Did you get a retention guarantee?

From what I heard most people on the UBS side got like $100k or less as ASO2…seems like A2A’s get consistently better bonuses than MBAs too across ratings, deserved or not

 

Thanks and no retention guarantee or anything like that. But yeah generally speaking you’re probably right on the A2A piece. Probably a function of just having developed deeper relationships, trust over the course of working there and then you have the opportunity for more people to vouche for you vs MBA who just hasn’t had the benefit of time

 

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