UBS just revealed which bankers it wants to hire now in the US
Is UBS hiring investment bankers externally in America? More to the point, does it need to? It is, after all, acquiring all the talented Credit Suisse bankers who were excited about joining Michael Klein at CS First Boston, but who are now unexpectedly stuck where they are.
The answer seems to be yes and yes. UBS has just hired an executive recruiter to focus specifically on hiring into both its investment banking and markets divisions in the US, but he has a very particular remit.
The new arrival is Robert Negron, who joins from LinkedIn (where he was also a recruiter, working in New York, until LinkedIn laid its recruiters off). Negron previously worked for Citi and recruitment firm Selby Jennings. His focus at UBS in New York will be diversity hires for M&A, coverage groups, capital markets, sales and trading, research and operations.
The implication is that even in a market awash with low hanging bankers, many of whom may yet be deemed surplus to requirement, banks will still make external hires in an attempt to diversify their teams.
In its most recent diversity report, for 2022, UBS said it intends for women to account for 30% of employees at director-level and above by 2025, and for ethnic minority employees at director level and above to account for the same proportion by the same date.
The implication is that Credit Suisse bankers who want to stay at UBS are most likely to succeed in their quest if they are in a minority group. Insiders suggest that many of the others are panicking that they won't be wanted. "CS people have gone out of their way to impress upon the UBS people their own superiority," says one. "It hasn't turned out to be a good strategy."
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