Hi everyone, was simply wondering about people's thoughts on UBS London these days, in particular from the perspective of juniors. Do you see the bank becoming a stronger player following its CS acquisition, or do you feel its cards aren't looking great ? Also for those who might have this info, which groups do you think are strongest following the acquisition ?
Grateful for any info!
Signed: a confused student
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Working there so a bit biased - 2023 performance has been great when it came to league table and seniors are all about “now we’re able to compete against US BBs”.
Thanks for your response, btw maybe a bit of a stupid question but do you feel like deal experience per analyst is going to be a bit "diluted" over the next years due to the time lag until deals catch up to headcount ? (i.e. less opportunities to hold the pen on models for example)
Don't have enough experience to give an answer here, been on the job for 6 months and already staffed on c.5 executions so not complaining.
Looks like they are still laying off people and struggled to retain some of CS top rainmakers. I wonder what the final pro-forma headcount will be, maybe it won't be that much higher than pre-deal. They won a huge chunk of market share in the Swiss market. All in all I guess UBS can only benefit from this operation.
Also working there, so also biased. CS has arguably been the stronger franchise in most sectors, and therefore significant business is being brought in. Taking over the loan book from CS swamped the LevFin team and they are printing right now. Other coverages have also felt a lot of strong client connections being made through the acquisition which will all likely turn into fee events sooner or later. Therefore agree, the bank can only benefit from this from a corporate perspective. From an employee perspective, also some downsides. More job uncertainty atm with further cuts ongoing, although this is hopefully done by Q2’24 latest. Another point is also the cultural aspect in some teams, with new people coming in noticeably changing the culture
Thank you for the info, do you feel these repeated cuts might shore up the perceived "quality" of the juniors remaining ? (as they would be the ones that made it through said cuts)
Which are the strongest groups there?
LevFin/FSG(previously combined now separated), GIG, and FIG have historically been the strongest groups at the firm.
Insights on M&A or industrials?
I mean, lots of external analyst think UBS stock will double in the next 3-5 years, so I most sentiment is positive.
Agreed, though to my knowledge it seems this increase will be mostly driven by non-IB business (i.e wealth management)
Being a UBS shareholder and a UBS employee may be 2 very different experiences (goes for any company)
If UBS reduces headcount to improve profitability which drives up the share price, that’s a great shareholder experience but a terrible employee experience….
Think they made a lot of hires from Barc recently
Being a UBS employee especially a loyal legacy MD sucks.
The Barclays bros have completed a hostile takeover of the GB business, and now lead GB overall, M&A, Tech, M&T, and C&R groups. HC is led by legacy CS. UBS ECM Head and Private Placement MDs sacked.
Literally the only groups in the Americas that are still run by legacy UBS folks at this point are LevFin / DCM, FIG and GIG.
Which other areas are there good CS MDs besides HC? Who ended up even getting retained?
Almost every group is being run by Barclays or CS MDs, the better question is where the old UBS leadership is tbh. I think only LevFin and to a lesser extent FIG and GIG is being led by legacy UBS folks. There are more group heads from Barclays than CS though, CS had more junior MDs move over rather than the big rainmakers, while UBS stole a large number of Barclays/ex-Lehman rainmakers who moved over with Marco Valla.
LevFin, GIG, and FIG are also their strongest in the US, so it makes sense why those were the only seniors who are left. The other groups simply weren't as strong, and thus new leadership was brought in. It's overall a net positive for the firm and the seniors in those groups that are being brought in are almost all noted Lehman dealmakers, which can only be a positive for the firm. There are also a couple of seniors in the GIG/FIG coverage universe that should also be a slight boost to those groups, overall a clear net positive.
Gig is basically run by cs mds at this point
What were bonuses like?
Communications are beginning of Feb
Do analysts get bonus this time of the year as well?
No, only associate and up
Does someone have any idea on how UBS analysts may fare on exits over the next few years (London) ?
BUMP
Not feeling this barclays takeover of ubs/cs at all.
Looking into my exit options at moment.
Same. Bringing all these new people together has meaningfully reduced morale. Will only stay another year if my bonus is above expectations
.
Bump
For UBS analysts/assos looking into exits these days, do you feel you're getting many bites?
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