Is UBS back to hiring the unemployed?

UBS has hired a senior fixed income banker. It has done so despite making 420 FICC hires between January and November last year, and despite not really seeming to enjoy the kind of revenue increase usually associated with such a big investment.

But while many of the hires it made later in 2010 were poached from rivals for allegedly generous generous guaranteed bonuses, UBS's latest recruit was out of the market.

Is the Swiss bank therefore reverting to its strategy of early 2010 and targeting less costly unemployed persons?

No.

Headhunters say the recruitment of Ian Slatter, formerly of JPMorgan, as co-head of EMEA FICC distribution is a bit of a special case.

Slatter left JPMorgan on the 13th August 2010 and resurfaced at UBS on 12h January 2011.

The exact six month break isn't purely coincidental.

Slatter is alleged to have had a six month non-compete from JPMorgan. If he breached this by going to work for a rival, he would allegedly have been obliged to forgo all the stock he got to keep when he left the US bank last year. UBS wanted to hire him sooner, but didn't want to buy out the stock.

Hence the delay.

The Slatter experience underlines the fact that banks can't immediately pick up people departing from their rivals - even if they're out of the market. James Davies, employment partner at law firm Lewis Silkin, says non-competes usually only last three months, but six months may be imposed for senior staff.

What of UBS's hiring plans for this year?

The bank needs to find a co-head for Slatter, but this is expected to be an internal appointment. Meanwhile, one fixed income headhunter claims it still has 15% of its FICC buildout to go. "Whether they can get this signed off after a difficult third and fourth quarter is questionable," he muses.