For the first time since UBS Group AG bought PaineWebber 16 years ago, the world's largest wealth manager's U.S. business has a smaller workforce than an independent rival, Raymond James Financial.
But does Tom Naratil, president of UBS's Wealth Management Americas, care?
"No. We don't," Naratil told Reuters on Wednesday. "For six years, we've said it was all about the productivity of advisors and not the number of advisors."
In June, Naratil launched plans to cut the firm's costly recruiting efforts by 40 percent, streamline broker's compensation and eliminate some middle management.
The cuts are part of a broader effort to boost lagging revenue. Some of the money saved from recruiting will go to pay existing advisors bonuses for growing their business.
It is already working, Naratil said, pointing to the record revenues, income and pre-tax profit margins reported in the third quarter.
There are costs to leaving the recruiting game amid a decade-long trend of advisors moving from Wall Street brokerages to independent outfits, like Raymond James. St. Petersburg, Florida-based Raymond James reported it had 7,146 advisors across its employee and independent channels in the third quarter, compared to UBS's 7,087.
"We don't need to wake up every morning and pray for the independent advisor model to fail in order for us to succeed," said Naratil, who took on the top job in January.
The cuts, combined with an expected increase in the Federal Reserve's interest rate in December will help the firm reach its goal of 15-25 percent pre-tax profit margins, Naratil said.
Additionally, the uncertainty for some investors created by the surprise election of Republican Donald Trump as U.S. president is also good for business, said the former PaineWebber bond trader.
A UBS survey of 1,200 wealthy investors found that half missed money-making opportunities because they raised cash or moved into conservative investments ahead of the election.
"Any kind of uncertainty that people have as a result of geopolitical events or domestic events is good for the advice markets," said Naratil, who declined to say whether UBS had been in touch with Trump's transition team.