UBS to split wealth business; Hoekstra to lead in Americas

After posting another massive loss today, the Swiss bank UBS AG said it will reorganize its wealth management businesses. The move will affect 7,900 brokers and financial advisers at about 480 branches in the United States. UBS is creating two new divisions, one called Wealth Management and Swiss Bank, the other labeled Wealth Management Americas. Marten Hoekstra will lead the latter group, which will focus on broadening market share in the United States and further developing the Canadian and Latin American markets. UBS of Zurich announced the changes in its wealth management business after it posted a larger-than-expected loss of $7 billion in the fourth quarter and cut some 2,200 jobs in order to focus on the Swiss market. The company said that the results were due largely to losses in its investment-banking business. That group saw trading losses, further write-downs on its exposure to bond insurers, and charges taken against its leveraged-finance commitments. Profits were down about 40% in the wealth management business as UBS reported further outflows of cash. The company included few details of the Wealth Management Americas group in its announcement in Zurich this morning. Recently, UBS was said to be considering getting out of the U.S. wealth management business, according to the New York Post. Last week, Wachovia Securities LLC of St. Louis and UBS Financial Services Inc. of New York engaged in preliminary talks about a joint venture for their retail-brokerage units, also according to the New York Post.