Rebel private bankers opt to stay with UBS in London
Two UK advisers who had intended to quit UBS to join start-up boutique Vestra Wealth have changed their minds and decided to continue working at the Swiss bank, a week after UBS won a court injunction against one of them, preventing him from taking UK clients when he moved.
One of the two is David Guild, one of the four individuals against whom UBS won a legal dispute last week to stop him poaching its UK clients. A spokeswoman for UBS said: "He will continue to work at UBS."
The spokeswoman confirmed that Keith Merrick, another adviser who had planned to join Vestra, has decided to remain in the UBS fold.
The other three individuals against whom UBS won an injunction earlier this month were Duncan Carmichael-Jack, Neil Pedley and Paul Pollard. A full trial is due to take place in October.
The judge, Mr Justice Openshaw, said: "I am firmly of the view that the claimants have put forward a formidable case that there was an unlawful plan to poach staff and clients from UBS." He added: "It is in my judgement an unlawful conspiracy dressed up as lawful competition."
A spokesman for Vestra confirmed the decision of Guild and Merrick to continue working at UBS, but added Vestra still had 18 advisers, 30 support staff and 30 back office staff on its books. Goldman Sachs has a sub-5% shareholding in Vestra. The firm is led by David Scott, who hired the start up team out of UBS earlier this year.
The spokesman added: "Vestra is now very much open for business. We've been delighted both with the support we've received and with the phenomenal number of enquiries that have come in from unrelated clients who are interested in the principles our firm stands for. Everyone here is excited about what Vestra can do for clients in the future."
--write to mfoster@efinancialnews.com
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