UBS, which said it has reduced its traditional advisor training program from around 200 in 2012 to between 120 and 130 people this year, is now taking a different training approach by not pressurizing new brokers to sell products and services and build up client accounts quickly, the firm told the Wall Street Journal, but confirmed to this publication. 

Instead, trainees will focus on obtaining the Certified Financial Planner designation, while working with a number of advisor teams at UBS to get a feel for each aspect of the business. After they have completed the program, they will added to an existing team and given a salary and small share of the group's book of business. Their salaries will be then be reduced over time as they begin generating their own business.

Aging advisor workforce

According to figures from Cerulli Associates, only 5 per cent of all financial advisors in 2011 were under the age of 30, while 22 per cent were over the age of 60 and 33 per cent were between the ages of 50 and 59.

Meanwhile, in last year’s World Wealth Report, Capgemini and RBC warned that essential client needs could go unmet if the more “tenured” advisors opt for advisory methods which don’t resonate with younger high net worth individuals.

“Firms will therefore need to map advisors to the appropriate category of clients to ensure the relationships are well-matched, and perhaps develop a younger advisor workforce for younger HNW individuals to relate to,” the report recommended.

Wirehouses have cut back substantially on recruiting programs and have also laid off many underperforming younger advisors, Chip Roame, managing partner at Tiburon Strategic Advisors, previously told this publication.