UBS Breakaway Tests The Limits Of The Broker Protocol, Gets Restraining Order Anyway Hot

Peter Junggren Jr., who was a wealth strategy associate at UBS, took the details of 229 of the bank's clients with him when he jumped on March 15. 

Unfortunately, UBS determined that Junggren's team only dealt with 124 of those clients, which means that even under the broker protocol -- which shields advisors who switch firms from non-compete restraining orders -- it would be a stretch to assume that he was acting in "good faith" when he prepped "his" book for the move.

At least, that's what the judge said. Junggren's eagerness to take what amounts to UBS trade secrets with him has earned him a restraining order preventing him from contacting any of the people on the 229-name list, whether he worked with them at his old firm or not.

As far as the judge was concerned, questions over whether Junggren was formally a "broker" at the time or not were beside the point. To be protected by the protocol, he has to have been acting in good faith to take only his proprietary accounts with him and nothing that belonged exclusively to the firm.

Grabbing so many extra names raised too many questions about his intentions. From here, FINRA will decide.

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