Robert Mulholland, head of UBS’ Wealth Management Advisor Group, in an interview to Reuters, said his firm expects to hire 175 to 200 people from professions outside the securities business to be trained as financial advisers.
The brokerage also expects to recruit roughly 350 to 400 experienced brokers from rival firms.
"Our plan is a departure from firms that are announcing plans to hire 2,000 trainees. We just don’t believe that’s in the trainee’s best interest or ours," Mulholland said.
UBS employs around 6,800 brokers. Only Morgan Stanley’s brokerage joint venture Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Wells Fargo’s Wells Fargo Advisors employ more brokers.
On recent a media report that UBS was in talks to sell the US business, Mulholland said one thing that is not on the table is a sale of the brokerage division, contrary to persistent speculation.
