The Swiss bank says such departures are a normal post-bonus season ritual. UBS is suffering a mass defection from its London wealth-management offices. The Zurich-based bank has said more than 20 private-client personnel have left in recent weeks; media reports say the number is more like 50.

If the newspapers have it right, then UBS has lost about two thirds of its London wealth-management force, which -- ostensibly -- manages approximately $9 billion in client assets.

Sure it is

"We have taken all necessary steps to ensure our clients continue to receive the level of professional service they would normally expect," says John Pottage, head of UBS Wealth Management in the U.K. "It is entirely normal to see a peak in client adviser departures at this time of year following bonus season."

Following sub-prime write-offs to the tune of nearly $40 billion, UBS' wealth- and asset-management clients pulled $12.1 billion in assets out of the bank in the first quarter of 2008.

To staunch this outflow, the Swiss bank has pledged not to use funds from its comparatively thriving wealth-management division to prop up its wobbly investment-banking business.

In London, ex-UBSers are showing up at firms like Credit Suisse, NM Rothschild, Merrill Lynch and an outfit called Vestra Wealth, which has financial backing from Goldman Sachs. -FWR

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