UBS Perhaps Looking To Merge Its Wealth Management Unit With Wells Fargo's (WFC) Wachovia Securities

Reportedly, large Swiss bank, UBS (NYSE: UBS) has held preliminary talks with Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC) Wachovia Securities about a joint venture with both companies North American wealth-management units, according to the The NY Post.

The alliance would combine Wachovia Securities' 16,000 financial advisers with UBS' more than 8,000 retail brokers. This combination would be similar to the partnership formed between Citigroup's (NYSE: C) Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS) brokers into an operation with over 20,000 brokers.

The NY Post did not know what stage the talks were or if ever a deal would actually materialize.

By doing this deal, UBS could cut costs at its US wealth-management unit, which the bank acquired 10 years ago when it bought PaineWebber for $10 billion.

The Post did say that any deal would be quite complicated because six years ago Wachovia crafted a similar partnership with Prudential Securities (NYSE: PRU), which owns 38% of Wachovia Securities.

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