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Marten Hoekstra should lead UBS

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Jul 31, 2009 10:59 pm

As a somewhat recent recruit from Merrill, I can tell you that from our point of view, Marten has positioned this firm very well to be a real leader in the HNW and UHNW space. It seems that the vast majority of the issues were not caused by Marten and he has done his best to navigate the various storms that have hit the industry and the firm. The resources to win in these niches are much stronger at UBS than at Merrill in many ways. The firm is tightly focused on these target markets rather than trying to be everywhere and constantly worried about touting having the larges force of FAs.  The entrepreneurial nature of the organization (at least compared to Merrill) really enables one to be creative and get things done. The advisors, at least in my office, are uniformly intelligent, do the business the right way and are having great success. Marten also appears on his conference calls to be a very straight shooter who pretty much tells it like it is and accepts responsibility where warranted. We were very happy at Merrill and truly thought it was the best place to be until the B of A acquisition, which led us to look at other options so we are by no means anti-Merrill. We diligently researched all the options including MS, SB, JPM, CS, DB and going independent and came here because we believed this firm was truly going in the right direction. We haven ot been disappointed and were surprised how much better we believe we are positioned to tackle these market niches now than before. We only hope that the firm continues in this direction and strongly believe that Marten should continue to run UBS.

Jul 31, 2009 11:32 pm

You must have come from a really bad firm.

Jul 31, 2009 11:33 pm

My friend, you haven’t been here(UBS) long enough.    Marten Hoekstra is the emperor without any clothes.   His minions don’t tell him what’s going on…their only concern is keeping their own jobs.

  You have been had.   You just don't know it yet.
Aug 1, 2009 12:03 am
kaap:

As a somewhat recent recruit from Merrill, I can tell you that from our point of view, Marten has positioned this firm very well to be a real leader in the HNW and UHNW space. It seems that the vast majority of the issues were not caused by Marten and he has done his best to navigate the various storms that have hit the industry and the firm. The resources to win in these niches are much stronger at UBS than at Merrill in many ways. The firm is tightly focused on these target markets rather than trying to be everywhere and constantly worried about touting having the larges force of FAs.  The entrepreneurial nature of the organization (at least compared to Merrill) really enables one to be creative and get things done. The advisors, at least in my office, are uniformly intelligent, do the business the right way and are having great success. Marten also appears on his conference calls to be a very straight shooter who pretty much tells it like it is and accepts responsibility where warranted. We were very happy at Merrill and truly thought it was the best place to be until the B of A acquisition, which led us to look at other options so we are by no means anti-Merrill. We diligently researched all the options including MS, SB, JPM, CS, DB and going independent and came here because we believed this firm was truly going in the right direction. We haven ot been disappointed and were surprised how much better we believe we are positioned to tackle these market niches now than before. We only hope that the firm continues in this direction and strongly believe that Marten should continue to run UBS.

      this is the stupidest post in the history of this message board.  Marten Hoekstra is the dumbest MF in this business wait, maybe a tie with jamie price. UHNW space?     give me a break.  who talks like this?  UBS is last in everything except paying too much for everything  (PW in 2000, ARS, paying brokers too much, firing people at the bottom etc ) Your justifing your own descision, dude.  you must have been in charge of search.  Keep drinking that nasty Koolaid, you will be choking soon
Aug 1, 2009 2:01 am

[quote=BeenThere]My friend, you haven’t been here(UBS) long enough.    Marten Hoekstra is the emperor without any clothes.   His minions don’t tell him what’s going on…their only concern is keeping their own jobs.

  You have been had.   You just don't know it yet.[/quote]

As a former UBS guy, I agree with this post.  I think Marten is a genuinely decent guy, but he's completely out of touch with what's going on in the field.  The guy is as insulated as it gets.
Aug 1, 2009 2:51 am

I don’t think anyone can repair the reputation of the UBS disaster. This week reports came out that IRS agents were tailing UBS FAs in effort to pressure UBS. UBS already hit the Iceberg. Grab a life vest and push the steering class out of your way on the way to the life raft. I jumped ship UBS at the end of 07. Marten ignored the ice berg. He doesn’t have it in him to fix the ship. The damage is done

Aug 1, 2009 3:00 am

WOW!!! this guy not only drank the kool-aid but is drowning in it , thinking Marty will lead UBS-America out of this mess.  Good luck ex-ML guy, keep trying to justify your move!!! 

Aug 1, 2009 5:01 am

[quote=georgicaclose] [quote=BeenThere]My friend, you haven’t been here(UBS) long enough.    Marten Hoekstra is the emperor without any clothes.   His minions don’t tell him what’s going on…their only concern is keeping their own jobs.

  You have been had.   You just don't know it yet.[/quote]

As a former UBS guy, I agree with this post.  I think Marten is a genuinely decent guy, but he's completely out of touch with what's going on in the field.  The guy is as insulated as it gets.
[/quote] I too think he is a decent guy and wants to do right by us and the firm.  If you've ever been in a management position (at any level), you're always caught in the middle.  You're either passing bad news up to higher management or passing bad news down to lower management and the worker bees.  This is one of many reasons I am an FA and not a manager.  Management just plain sucks!   Can Martin lead us out of this?  I sure hope so.  But at this point, is anyone else more qualified to do his job than him?  It remains to be seen.   LA
Aug 3, 2009 8:56 pm
kaap:

As a somewhat recent recruit from Merrill, I can tell you that from our point of view, Marten has positioned this firm very well to be a real leader in the HNW and UHNW space. It seems that the vast majority of the issues were not caused by Marten and he has done his best to navigate the various storms that have hit the industry and the firm. The resources to win in these niches are much stronger at UBS than at Merrill in many ways. The firm is tightly focused on these target markets rather than trying to be everywhere and constantly worried about touting having the larges force of FAs.  The entrepreneurial nature of the organization (at least compared to Merrill) really enables one to be creative and get things done. The advisors, at least in my office, are uniformly intelligent, do the business the right way and are having great success. Marten also appears on his conference calls to be a very straight shooter who pretty much tells it like it is and accepts responsibility where warranted. We were very happy at Merrill and truly thought it was the best place to be until the B of A acquisition, which led us to look at other options so we are by no means anti-Merrill. We diligently researched all the options including MS, SB, JPM, CS, DB and going independent and came here because we believed this firm was truly going in the right direction. We haven ot been disappointed and were surprised how much better we believe we are positioned to tackle these market niches now than before. We only hope that the firm continues in this direction and strongly believe that Marten should continue to run UBS.

  KAAP, you must be on crack. I heard the same old BS from Marty, and even met with him, grilling him on details as they bought my firm and I was coming over to UBS. Everything he said was 100% contradicted in less than a month. Ohhhhh, he was a broker in the midwest before he took the top job, he must be one of us....... You are a sucker.
Aug 3, 2009 11:17 pm

The only thing that can fix ubs (PW) is new leadership in wealth management.

sallie, mccann etc  They will F^%$#@ that up.  watch.  they are too stupid to even do that  
Aug 5, 2009 7:48 pm

I have always liked Marten and feel that the majority of the
issues at UBS are with the upper-middle management as noted by someone in this
thread before. They manage up very well, say the right things, put together
nice charts and graphs but don’t seem to understand what happens outside of <st1:city w:st=“on”><st1:place w:st=“on”>Weehawken</st1:place></st1:city> or how the
business is done. Most of these people have risen up by being good yes
men/women or by filling certain HR hiring needs but they have either never been
in the business, other than corporate, or it has been so long since they
stepped out of the ivory tower that they just don’t get it. With that as a background,
how can this ultimately not be a problem for Marten? He may talk a good game
and be very approachable and empathetic but if he relies on inept lieutenants
and does not replace them then ultimately where does the buck stop? For the
sake of the firm there needs to be a top down cleansing as opposed to them
continuing to save their own a**es while eliminating field personnel and middle
managers. Those cuts are largely the wrong ones in my opinion.

Aug 5, 2009 8:56 pm

WELL SAID!!!

Aug 7, 2009 12:09 am

hoskstra and price 

dumb and dumber are gone if they can find someone and not screw that up also