UBS bonuses are this Thursday. There are comings & goings before they're announced
US banks have announced their bonuses already. Now, it's European banks' turn. UBS will go first, announcing its bonuses on January 29th (Thursday). However, the Swiss banks' insiders have mixed opinions about the imminent bonuses' likely size, and there have been some curious arrivals and departures ahead of time in the rates business.
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UBS isn't commenting, but prognoses for the bank's bonus pool vary from down 10-15% globally, to up 3-5% in some support functions and up 10-15% in investment banking. All are below the 29% increase in bonuses apparently anticipated by UBS people before Christmas.
Last year, UBS increased its overall bonus pool by 4% and raised its average key risk-taker bonus by 27%. This year, people at the investment bank are optimistic after integration costs fell 61% year-on-year to $211m and profits rose 52% to $2,2bn in the first nine months of 2025.
UBS's investment bankers are particularly excited. "The market is up and they will have to pay competitively," explains one MD in London.
In trading, insiders point to changes in UBS's London rates trading team before bonuses are announced. Kilian Frensch, the friendly ex-Nomura ex-Deutsche Bank rates trader turned up yesterday, while George Dramitinos, a London-based rates trader who joined from Brevan Howard in late 2023, seems to have disappeared. Jason Colloupas, an Australian market trader in London is also thought to have gone.
At the same time, and unrelated to bonuses, UBS has been hiring new people in. Yumin Wang, a rates salesperson, joined in December. Both Wang and Frensch previously worked for Credit Suisse with UBS's top macro trader Shane O’Cuinn, but O'Cuinn is understood to have hired four other traders with whom he did not have prior relations.
Last year, Bloomberg said UBS was planning another round of job cuts in January. However, Financial News also reported that it plans to hire bankers this year.
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