UBS loses UK equities team to Kaupthing

UBS has lost nearly all of its UK small and mid-cap equity sales team team to Singer & Friedlander, the UK broker owned by Icelandic banking group Kaupthing.

Marcus Chorley, Ross Mitchinson, François Mercier and James Davenport join Singer & Friedlander to lead its effort to build a UK small and mid-cap equity sales business, and are believed to have been tempted by the offer of equity in the company, according to market sources.

Their departure reduces the size of UBS UK mid-cap equity sales business from six to two.

UBS and Singer & Friedlander did not immediately comment.

In June, Kaupthing, which bought Singer & Friedlander last year, hired two former staff from Cheuvreux, the broking arm of Frecnh investment bank Calyon, for its securities business.

In May, it recruited five Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein equity traders, including Hugh McAlister, co-head of European cash equities trading, to build its UK equities business.