* UBS Wealth Management to hire 30-35 mortgage consultants.
* Consultants to be located in UBS branch offices
* UBS can compete with BofA/Merrill on lending -Berkery
UBS Wealth Management Americas will hire more mortgage consultants for its branch offices as it bulks up its lending services business, a company executive told Reuters.
UBS, a division of the Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.VX), plans to hire 30 to 35 mortgage consultants, said Rosemary Berkery, vice chairman of UBS Wealth Management Americas and chairman of UBS Bank USA. Now, the group employs six mortgage consultants. The new hires will sell mortgages to wealthy clients.
“Given our target market is high net-worth clients, they often have several homes. We know that they’re in the market every five to eight years for mortgage financing,” she said.
Rather than going to a “faceless person in a call center,” clients can talk about their mortgage needs with their UBS wealth advisers. Those advisers would work with the mortgage consultants to structure the mortgage.
This form of cross-selling has long been a feature of the industry, but has been less of a focus at UBS, said Scott Smith of Boston consulting firm Cerulli Associates.
Since Bob McCann was hired to head the division late last year there has been a greater focus on the lending side, with McCann publicly stating that one of his main priorities is to bulk up the division’s banking products.
Berkery joined UBS in February from Merrill Lynch/Bank of America (BAC.N), where she most recently was general counsel. Berkery worked with McCann for 25 years at Merrill Lynch.
Berkery said UBS can compete with her former employer in banking services, despite being smaller.
“We fight well above our weight,” she said. “We have a very solid deposit base, deep relationships with our clients and a huge capacity to lend in the mortgage arena.”
Advisers also are often afraid that problems on the banking side could hurt relationships with their clients, Smith added.
UBS may need to tread carefully with its sharper focus on mortgage consulting. Though the practice is widespread elsewhere, it has riled wealth advisers at some other companies, Smith said.
Advisers often worry that problems that might arise in mortgage and banking services could damage the relationships that they have with their clients, Smith added.
“Advisers often say: ‘Why can’t you back off and just let me have a wealth management relationship?’” he said.
By Helen Kearney
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