What UBS' Credit Suisse Deal Means for Advisor Recruiting

What You Need to Know

UBS Group’s deal to buy rival Credit Suisse is expected to create a business with more than $5 trillion in total invested assets.
The deal isn’t expected to have much impact on advisor recruiting, advisor consultants said Monday.
There could, however, be an impact on recruiting if UBS has to shift priorities away from its U.S. wealth management franchise.

UBS Group AG’s agreement to buy Credit Suisse Group AG for about $3.3 billion in a deal brokered by the Swiss government isn’t expected to have much of an impact on advisor recruiting, consultants told ThinkAdvisor on Monday.

The acquisition is expected to create a business with more than $5 trillion in total invested assets, up from its current $3.9 trillion.

“Though the idea that these two firms have been arch-rivals for years are now merging is fascinating because Credit Suisse only had a tiny wealth management business (they have been in and out of the business for years), the effect on recruiting is negligible,” said Danny Sarch, president of Leitner Sarch Consultants.

“We don’t see the UBS/CS deal having too much of an impact on wirehouse recruiting overall,” according to Louis Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants.

Credit Suisse sold its U.S. wealth management franchise to Wells Fargo a few years ago, “so there is very little wealth management overlap between the two businesses,” Diamond told ThinkAdvisor.

However, Diamond said, “there could be an impact on recruiting if UBS has to allocate its capital and focus on this transaction and integration, so, in turn, it would invest less in the U.S. wealth management franchise.”