UBS today won the first stage of a legal fight to stop former employees from poaching its investment clients or the bank's staff.

High Court judge, Mr Justice Openshaw, granted the Swiss bank a court order to prevent five former UBS employees and their new employer, Vestra Wealth, a start-up wealth manager, from approaching any UBS UK wealth management or stockbroking clients or asking any more UBS employees to leave the bank to join Vestra.

David Scott, a former UBS senior employee, founded Vestra last year.

Seventy-five people have since quit the bank to join Vestra, which was due to open for business today.

UBS has sought a "springboard injunction" to stop Vestra or its staff approaching any of UBS's estimated 12,000 clients until the bank brings a larger legal case against Vestra in October.

UBS accused Mr Scott and his colleagues of conspiring over many months to deliberately steal the bank's business.

Mr Justice Openshaw said today that he was "firmly of the view that the claimants have put forward a formidable case that there was an unlawful plan to poach staff and clients from UBS". He added: "It is in my judgment an unlawful conspiracy dressed up as lawful competition".

The injunction means that Vestra will not be able to solicit UBS clients for business or ask more UBS staff to join the new company.

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