UBS's aggressive hiring effort in the past few months demonstrates a potential change in its hiring strategy.

According to a recent OnWallStreet article, UBS doubled down on significant hires of Merrill Lynch brokers, securing teams that managed $440 million in assets in California and hiring a 20-year veteran Merrill broker who managed $391 million in assets in New York. Those recent hiring movements differ from the firm's previous strategy that "notably emphasized improved asset flows as the key financial stabilizer to the UBS." 

It looks like UBS realized the shortcomings of its former approach. However, the question remains, will UBS revisit its decision to exit the Protocol for Broker Recruiting ("Protocol"). UBS exited the Protocol in December 2017 to prevent the loss of advisors to competitors.