UBS Group AG
Apart from private banking, UBS provides wealth management, asset management and investment banking services for private, corporate and institutional clients with international service. UBS manages the largest amount of private wealth in the world, counting approximately half of The World's Billionaires among its clients. UBS also maintains a global investment bank and is considered a primary market maker. The bank also maintains numerous underground bank vaults, bunkers and storage facilities for gold bars around the Swiss Alps and internationally. Partly due to its banking secrecy, it has been at the centre of numerous tax avoidance investigations undertaken by U.S., French, German, Israeli and Belgian authorities. UBS operations in Switzerland and the United States were respectively ranked first and second on the 2018 Financial Secrecy Index.
As of December 2023, UBS is the seventh largest bank in Europe with total assets worth over €1.554 trillion.
Headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland
Formerly
Company type
Traded as
ISIN
Industry
Banking
Predecessor
Founded
Headquarters
Zürich, Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Financial services
Union Bank of Switzerland · Swiss Bank Corporation
29 June 1998 (through the merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation)
Union Bank of Switzerland (1862-1998)
Public ( Aktiengesellschaft )
SIX: UBSG (https://www.six-gr oup.com/en/products-service s/the-swiss-stock-exchange/m arket-data/news-tools/product -search.html?security=UBSG)
NYSE: UBS (https://www.nys e.com/quote/XNYS:UBS)
SMI component
CH0244767585 (https://isin.to olforge.org/?language=en&isi n=CH0244767585)
in an emergency rescue deal brokered by the Swiss government and its Central bank in 2023, following which UBS' AUM increased to over $5 trillion along with an increased balanced sheet of $1.6 trillion. [19] In late 2016, UBS established a blockchain technology research lab in London to advance its cyber security and encryption of client activities. Based on regional deal flow and political influence, UBS is considered one of the "biggest, most powerful financial institutions in the world". [20][21] The company's capital strength, security protocols, and reputation for discretion have yielded a substantial market share in banking and a high level of brand loyalty. Alternatively, it receives routine criticism for facilitating tax noncompliance and off-shore financing. UBS is a primary dealer and Forex counterparty of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
UBS was founded in 1862 as the Bank in Winterthur . [22] This development came with the formation of the series of modern Swiss Grossbanken (big banks) in the latter part of the 19th century.
Key people
Colm Kelleher (chairman)
Products
Revenue
US$40.8 billion (2023)
Operating income
Net income
US$27.8 billion (2023)
AUM
US$5.71 trillion (2023)
Total assets
US$1.72 trillion (2023)
Total equity
US$86.1 billion (2023)
Number of employees
Subsidiaries
Credit Suisse [2]
Capital ratio
Tier 1 14.4% (2023)
Rating
S&P: A+
Website
Moody's: Aa2 Fitch: AA-
www.ubs.com (https://www.ub s.com/)
Footnotes / references
UBS Institutional Reporting as of: end of 2023 [3][4]
In 1912, the Bank of Winterthur merged with Toggenburger Bank to form the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) [22] and grew rapidly after the Banking Law of 1934 codified Swiss banking secrecy. Following decades of market competition between Union Bank of Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC), the two merged in 1998 to create a single company known solely as "UBS".
UBS does not stand for Union Bank of Switzerland. The name 'UBS' came from one of its predecessor firms -the Union Bank of Switzerland. However, just like other prominent brands which used to be an abbreviation of a company name, UBS is no longer considered an acronym. In fact, that was one of the more than 370 financial firms that have, since 1862, become part of today's UBS.
US$28.7 billion (2023)
115,038 (end 2023)
Sergio Ermotti (CEO)
Todd Tuckner (CFO) [1]
Investment banking · wealth management · private banking · investment management · asset management · corporate banking · retail banking · corporate banking · private equity · fin ance and insurance · retail banking · mortgages · credit cards · mutual funds · exchangetraded funds · index funds
During the 2007-2008 financial crisis, UBS managed heavy losses with an asset relief recovery programme. In 2011, the company was hit by the 2011 rogue trader scandal resulting in a US$ 2 billion trading loss. [28] In 2012, the bank reoriented itself around wealth management advisory services and limited its sell side operations.
UBS is a joint-stock company ( Aktiengesellschaft ) pursuant to Swiss laws. Its shares are listed at the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). As of December 2020, UBS is present in all major financial centres worldwide, having offices in 50 countries, with about 30% of its approx. 73,000 employees working in the Americas, 30% in Switzerland, 19% in Europe (excluding Switzerland), the Middle East and Africa and 21% in the Asia Pacific region.
The company's global business groups are global wealth management, investment bank, asset management and personal & corporate banking. [30] UBS is the leading provider of retail banking and commercial banking services in Switzerland, as established already in 2009. [31] Overall invested assets are $3.101 billion, shareholders' equity is $52.928 billion and market capitalization is $45.907 billion by the end of 2018. [30] In November 2014, the shares in UBS Group AG were listed and started trading as a new holding company at the NYSE and SIX Swiss Exchange. Upon application and with effect as of 14
January 2015, the shares of UBS AG, the subsidiary of the UBS Group AG, were delisted from the NYSE.
As of 30 June 2018, the geographical distribution of the shareholders presents itself as follows: [34]
| Owner name | % |
|---|---|
| Chase Nominees Ltd., London | 11.76 |
| DTC (Cede & Co.), New York | 7.57 |
| Nortrust Nominees Ltd., London | 4.53 |
The UBS Investment Bank's Offices at 299 Park Avenue in New York City
| Shareholders | % | Shares | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Americas | 5,675 | 2.5 | 434,200,367 | 11.3 |
| Asia Pacific | 5,530 | 2.4 | 101,914,133 | 2.6 |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 13,065 | 5.7 | 823,401,277 | 21.4 |
| Switzerland | 206,060 | 89.5 | 823,785,072 | 21.4 |
| Total registered shares | 2,183,300,849 | 56.6 | ||
| Total unregistered shares | 1,671,288,703 | 43.34 | ||
| Total | 230,330 | 100.0 | 3,854,589,522 | 100 |
As of June 2018, UBS's corporate structure includes four divisions in total, namely: [35][36]
- Global Wealth Management
- Personal & Corporate Bank
- Asset Management
- Investment Bank
Starting on 9 June 2003, all UBS business groups, including UBS Paine Webber and UBS Warburg, were rebranded under the UBS moniker following company's start of operations as a unified global entity. [37]
UBS's global wealth management advisory division offers high-net-worth individuals around the world a range of advisory and investment products and services.
UBS offers brokerage services and products as well as asset management and other investment advisory and portfolio management products and services. [43][44] Additionally, UBS provides a broad range of securities and savings products that are supported by the firm's underwriting and research activities as well as clients' orders management and execution and also clearing services for transactions originated by individual investors. The business is further divided geographically with separate businesses focused on the U.S. and other international markets.
With its headquarters in Switzerland, UBS Wealth Management is present in more than 40 countries with approximately 190 offices (100 of which are in Switzerland). [38] As of the end of 2018, around 23,600 people worldwide were employed by Global Wealth Management.
chequing, savings, credit cards, and mortgage products for individuals. [46] They offer cash management and commercial banking services for small businesses and corporate clients as well. [46]
UBS global wealth management advisory operations in the Americas consists of U.S. and Canadian wealth management businesses, as well as international business booked in the U.S.
UBS U.S. wealth management headquarters at Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken, New Jersey
UBS's main competitors in this division are Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab . [50]
UBS's Personal & Corporate Banking division delivers financial products and services to retail, [51] corporate and institutional clients [52] in Switzerland. [38] It also provides stable and substantial profits for the Group and revenue opportunities for businesses within the bank.
The products that this UBS division offers range from cash accounts, payments, savings and retirement plans to investment fund products, residential mortgages and advisory services. [38] This business division constitutes a central building block of UBS's universal bank delivery model in Switzerland and it supports other divisions, such as Investment Bank, by referring clients to them and by assisting them to build their wealth to a level at which they can be transferred to UBS Wealth Management. [38] The retail and corporate distribution network comprises not only 279 branches in Switzerland, but 1,250 teller machines and self-service terminals, as well as digital banking services, serving 2.5 million personal banking clients. [38][30]
UBS Asset Management offers equity, fixed income, currency, hedge fund, global real estate, infrastructure and private equity investment capabilities that can also be combined in multi-asset strategies. [55] The 1998 UBS-SBC merger and subsequent restructuring resulted in the combination of three major asset management operations: UBS Asset Management, Phillips & Drew (owned by Union Bank of Switzerland), and Brinson Partners (owned by SBC). The investment teams were merged in 2000 and in 2002 the brands were consolidated to become UBS Global Asset Management . [56]
At the end of December 2018, UBS Asset Management was responsible for US$781 billion of invested assets and the assets under administration were US$413 billion.
The entrance of UBS Tower at One North Wacker Drive, a 50-story skyscraper in downtown Chicago
Real Estate and Private Markets by combining their Global Real Estate and Infrastructure and Private Equity businesses. [38]
In February 2017, UBS Group AG and the Northern Trust Corporation, an American international financial services company, announced an agreement for the acquisition of UBS Asset Management's fund administration servicing units in Luxembourg and Switzerland. This acquisition will facilitate the expansion of the Northern Trust Corporation into these two countries, turning the American company into the major fund administrator in the local markets and into one of the ten global leaders in the sector. At the end of the transaction, completed in October 2017, [64] the American company will administrate a total of CHF 420 billion in assets. UBS Asset Management will continue anyway to offer Management Company, White Labelling and Representative Services to its clients. Ulrich Körner, president of the UBS Asset Management, affirms that the continuous transformation of their platform is due to a major efficiency, effectiveness and geographical dislocation of the services offered by the bank. [65]
UBS's main competitors in this division are BlackRock, Vanguard Group, State Street Global Advisers (SSGA), Fidelity Investments and Allianz Asset Management (AAM). [66]
UBS Investment Bank's former offices in Stamford, Connecticut. At roughly the size of two American football fields, it was the largest column-less trading floor in the world. [67]
UBS Investment Bank provides services covering securities, other financial products, and research in equities, rates, credit, foreign exchange , precious metals and derivatives .
before the merger of the Union Bank of Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC). Within the UBS Investment Bank division, the Investment Banking Department (IBD) provides a range of
advisory and underwriting services including mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, equity offerings, investment grade and high yield debt offerings, leveraged finance and leveraged loan structuring, and the private placement of equity, debt, and derivatives.
The Sales & Trading division comprises equities (brokering, dealing, market making and engaging in proprietary trading in equities, equity-related products, equity derivatives, and structured products) and FX, Rates and Credit (FRC) (brokering, dealing, market making and engaging in proprietary trading in interest rate products, credit products, mortgage-backed securities, leveraged loans, investment grade and high-yield debt, currencies, structured products, and derivative products). Following an expansion in 2002, the trading floor covers 9,600-square-metre (103,000 sq ft) with 12-metre (40 ft) arched ceilings. Over US$1 trillion in assets are traded here every trading day. In June 2011, it was announced that UBS was considering moving its North American headquarters back to New York City, and that the bank was looking for office spaces in Midtown and in the rebuilt World Trade Center . [69][70]
UBS's main competitors in this division are fellow members of the Bulge Bracket ,
On a global scale, UBS competes with the largest global investment banks ,
- In Switzerland: UBS competes with a number of cantonal banks, such as Zürcher Kantonalbank, Banque cantonale vaudoise and other cantonal banks, as well as Raiffeisen, PostFinance, and the Migros Bank.
UBS and Credit Suisse branches next to each other in Zurich
- In Europe: UBS competes with several larger banks, such as Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Crédit agricole, BNP Paribas, Natixis, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and UniCredit.
- In the United States: UBS competes with the largest American banks, such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.
UBS traces its history to 1862, the year when Bank in Winterthur, forerunner of Union Bank of Switzerland , was founded.
United Bank Limited's Swiss subsidiary. Therefore, UBS is no longer an acronym but is the company's brand. Its logo of three keys, carried over from SBC, stands for the company's values of confidence, security, and discretion. [46]
UBS' earliest corporate ancestor was formed in 1854, when six private banking firms in Basel, Switzerland pooled their resources to form the Bankverein , a consortium that acted as an underwriting syndicate for its member banks. [81] In 1871, the Bankverein coordinated with the German Frankfurter Bankverein to form the Basler Bankverein , a joint-stock company replacing the original Bankverein consortium. [81] After the new bank started with an initial commitment of CHF 30 million and CHF 6 million of share capital, it soon
Swiss Bank Corporation logo (c. 1973), featuring the three keys meant to symbolize confidence, security, and discretion
experienced growing pains when heavy losses in Germany caused it to suspend its dividend until 1879.
SBC subsequently experienced a period of growth, which was only interrupted by the onset of World War I, in which the bank lost investments in a number of large industrial companies. By the end of 1918, the bank had recovered and surpassed CHF 1 billion in total assets and grew to 2,000 employees by 1920. The impact of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression was severe, particularly as the Swiss franc suffered major devaluation in 1936. The bank saw its assets
fall from a 1929 peak of CHF 1.6 billion to its 1918 levels of CHF 1 billion by 1936. [82][81]
In 1937, SBC adopted its three-keys logo, designed by Warja Honegger-Lavater, symbolizing confidence, security, and discretion, which remains an integral part in the current-day logo of UBS.
In 1945, SBC acquired the Basler Handelsbank (Commercial Bank of Basel), which was one of the largest banks in Switzerland, but became insolvent by the end of the war. SBC remained among the Swiss government's leading underwriters of debt in the post-war years. SBC, which had entered the 1950s with 31 branch offices in Switzerland and three abroad, more than doubled its assets from the end of the war to CHF 4 billion by the end of the 1950s and doubled assets again in the mid-
1960s, exceeding CHF 10 billion by 1965.
In 1992, SBC acquired O'Connor & Associates, a Chicago-based options trading firm and the largest market maker in the financial options exchanges in the U.S. [86] O'Connor was combined with SBC's money market, capital market, and currency market activities to form a globally integrated capital markets and treasury operation . [86] In 1994, SBC acquired Brinson Partners, an asset management firm focused on providing access for U.S. institutions to global markets, for US$750 million.
The St. Gallen, Switzerland, offices of Swiss Bank Corporation c. 1920
Co., a leading British investment banking firm, in 1995 for the price of US$1.4 billion (~$2.56 billion in 2023) signified a major push into investment banking. S.G. Warburg & Co. had established a reputation as a daring merchant bank that grew to be one of the most respected investment banks in London . [89] However, a Warburg expansion into the U.S. had turned out flawed and costly, and talks in 1994 with Morgan Stanley about a merger had collapsed.
Two years later, in 1997, SBC paid US$600 million (~$1.06 billion in 2023) to acquire Dillon, Read & Co. , a U.S. bulge bracket investment bank.
The Union Bank of Switzerland emerged in 1912 when the Bank in Winterthur fused with the Toggenburger Bank. The Bank in Winterthur, founded in 1862 with an initial share capital of CHF 5 million, focused on providing financing for industry and other companies,
1966 Union Bank of Switzerland logo, featuring the two acronyms of its English and French names (UBS) and its German counterpart (SBG)
customers, maintaining a branch office network in eastern Switzerland.
was initially traded under the English name Swiss Banking Association , but in 1921 it was changed to Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) to mirror its French name, Union de Banques Suisses . In German, the bank was known as the Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft (SBG). [96]
Bank in Winterthur, est. 1862
Toggenburger Bank, est. 1863
The combined bank had total assets of CHF 202 million and a total shareholders' equity of CHF 46 million. [81] In 1917, UBS completed the construction of a new headquarters in Zurich on Bahnhofstrasse, considered to be the Wall Street of Switzerland.
able to make several smaller acquisitions; in 1937 it established Intrag AG, an asset management business responsible for investment trusts , (i.e. mutual funds ). [81][95]
The activities of the Union Bank of Switzerland during World War II were not publicly known until decades after the war, when it was demonstrated that UBS likely took active roles in trading stolen gold, securities , and other assets during World War II.
In 1917, the Union Bank of Switzerland opened a new headquarters on Bahnhofstrasse (pictured above) in Zürich.
Shortly after the end of World War II, Union Bank of Switzerland completed the acquisition of the Eidgenössische Bank , a large Zürich-based bank that became insolvent. As a result of the merger, Union Bank of Switzerland exceeded CHF 1 billion in assets and moved its operations to Zürich. UBS opened branches and acquired a series of banks in Switzerland in the following years, growing from 31 offices in 1950 to 81 offices by the early 1960s. [81] In 1960, Union Bank of Switzerland acquired an 80% stake in Argor SA, a Swiss precious metals refinery founded in 1951 in the canton of Ticino .
counterfeiting . [105] By 1962, Union Bank of Switzerland reached CHF 6.96 billion of assets, narrowly edging ahead of Swiss Bank Corporation to become the largest bank in Switzerland. [106] The rapid growth was punctuated by the 1967 acquisition of Interhandel, which made UBS one of the strongest banks in Europe. [95]
By the 1980s, Union Bank of Switzerland established a position as a leading European underwriter of Eurobonds . [82] Following two major acquisitions in 1986 ( Phillips & Drew and Deutsche Länderbank), UBS made its first purchase in the United States in 1991 with Chase Investors
Management Corporation, the asset management business of Chase Manhattan Bank . [56] At the time of the acquisition, the business managed in excess of US$30 billion in assets.
During the mid-1990s, Union Bank of Switzerland came under fire from dissident shareholders critical of its conservative management and lower return on equity. [111] Martin Ebner, through his investment trust, BK Vision, became the largest shareholder in Union Bank of Switzerland and attempted to force a major restructuring of the bank's operations. [112] Looking to take advantage of the situation, Credit Suisse approached Union Bank of Switzerland about a merger that would have created the second largest bank in the world in 1996.
After the two banks merged, they became known solely as "UBS" while retaining the Swiss Bank Corporation's "three keys" icon.
chairman, Robert Studer with Mathis Cabiallavetta, one of the key architects of the merger with Swiss Bank Corporation . [82][115]
On 8 December 1997, Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation announced an allstock merger. At the time of the merger, Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation were the second and third largest banks in Switzerland, respectively.
Colloquially referred to as the "New UBS" to distinguish itself from the former Union Bank of Switzerland, the combined bank became the second largest in the world at the time, behind only the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi . [118] Additionally, the merger pulled together the banks' various asset management businesses to create the world's largest money manager, with approximately US$910 billion in assets under management .
particularly in the higher margin advisory businesses where Warburg Dillon Read was considered to be the more established platform.
On 3 November 2000, UBS merged with Paine Webber, an American stock brokerage and asset management firm led by chairman and CEO Donald Marron .
UBS PaineWebber logo in use from 2001 until 2003 when the use of the Paine Webber brand was dropped
UBS Warburg was the brand used for the Investment Banking division of UBS from 1999 to 2003.
John P. Costas, a former bond trader and co-head of Fixed income at Credit Suisse First Boston and head of Fixed Income Trading at Union Bank of Switzerland in 1998, was appointed CEO of UBS's investment banking division, which originated in SBC's Warburg Dillon Read division and was renamed UBS Warburg in December 2001.
UBS Financial Services (left) in Frankfurt, 2012
The arrival of former Drexel Burnham Lambert investment banker Ken Moelis marked a major coup for Costas. Moelis joined UBS from Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette in 2001 shortly after its acquisition by Credit Suisse First Boston (although Huw Jenkins claimed he had hired Moelis to the UK Parliamentary Banking commission while under oath, which is patently false). In his six years at UBS, Moelis ultimately assumed the role of president of UBS Investment Bank and was credited, along with Costas, with the build-out of UBS's investment banking operation in the United States.
hired more than 30 senior U.S. bankers from 2001 through 2004.
three-year period. [132] Among the bank's other major recruits during this period were Olivier Sarkozy , Ben Lorello, Blair Effron , and Jeff McDermott.
In 2006, UBS set up a joint venture in China (see UBS Securities, China branch). However, by the end of 2006, UBS began to experience changing fortunes. In late 2005, Costas headed a new hedge fund unit within UBS known as Dillon Read Capital Management. His former position was taken over by Huw Jenkins , a long-time legacy UBS investment banker.
UBS was fined $100 million by the FED in 2004 for trading in dollars with Iran and other sanctioned countries. [143]
At the beginning of 2007, UBS became the first Wall Street firm to announce a heavy loss in the subprime mortgage sector as the subprime mortgage crisis began to develop.
UBS building on Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan
UBS took over DRCM's positions in May 2007, losses grew from the US$124 million recorded by DRCM, ultimately to "16% of the US$19 billion in losses UBS recorded." The UBS investment bank continued to expand subprime risk in the second quarter of 2007 while most market participants were reducing risk,
In response to the growing series of problems at UBS, and possibly his role in spearheading Costas' departure from the bank, Peter Wuffli unexpectedly stepped down as CEO of the firm during the second quarter of 2007.
Protestors outside of UBS's Zürich headquarters, 2009
After a significant expansion of fixed income risk during 2006 and 2007 under the leadership of Huw Jenkins, the UBS Investment Bank CEO, [154] the bank's losses continued to mount in 2008 when UBS announced in April 2008 that it was writing down a further US$19 billion of investments in subprime and other mortgage assets. [155]
By this point, UBS's total losses in the mortgage market were in excess of US$37 billion, the largest such losses of any of its peers. [156] In response to its losses, UBS announced a CHF 15 billion rights offering to raise the additional funds need
to shore up its depleted reserves of capital. UBS cut its dividend to protect its traditionally high Tier 1 capital ratio, seen by investors as a key to its credibility as the world's largest wealth management company. $8.34 billion in 2023) of equity into the new "bad bank" entity, keeping only an option to benefit if the value of its assets were to recover. Heralded as a "neat" package by The New York Times , the UBS structure guaranteed clarity for UBS investors by making an outright sale. [162] UBS announced in February 2009 that it had lost nearly CHF 20 billion (US$17.2 billion) in 2008, the biggest single-year loss of any company in Swiss history. $70.8 billion in 2023) from subprime mortgage investments and cut more than 11,000 jobs. [164][165] By the spring of 2009, UBS announced another management restructuring and initiated a plan to return to profitability. Jerker Johansson, the head of the investment bank division, resigned in April 2009 and was replaced by Alex Wilmot-Sitwell and Carsten Kengeter . [166] At the same time, UBS announced the planned cut of 8,700 jobs [167] and had implemented a new compensation plan. Under the plan, no more than one-third of any cash bonus would be paid out in the year it is earned with the rest to be held in reserve and stock-based incentives that would vest after three years. In April 2009, UBS announced that it agreed to sell its Brazilian financial services business, UBS Pactual, for approximately US$2.5 billion (~$3.45 billion in 2023) to BTG Investments. [168]
The Swiss government sold its CHF 6 billion stake in UBS in late 2008 at a large profit; Switzerland had purchased convertible notes in 2008 to help UBS clear its balance sheets of toxic assets.
UBS world headquarters in Zürich's Paradeplatz
provides but in how it manages and executes." [171] Grübel reiterated plans to maintain an integrated business model of providing wealth management advisory, investment banking, and asset management services. [172]
In August 2010, UBS launched a new advertising campaign featuring the slogan: "We will not rest" and signed a global sponsorship agreement with Formula 1 . [173][174] On 26 October 2010, UBS announced that its private bank recorded net new funds of CHF 900 million during the third quarter, compared to an outflow of CHF 5.5 billion in second quarter.
On 15 September 2011, UBS became aware of a massive loss, originally estimated at US$2 billion (~$2.67 billion in 2023), allegedly due to unauthorized trading by Kweku Adoboli, a then 31-yearold Ghanaian trader on the Delta One desk of the firm's investment bank.
A UBS retail bank for private wealth management in St. Gallen, Switzerland
On 30 October 2012, UBS announced that it was cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to slim down its investment banking operations, of which 2,500 would be in Switzerland, followed by the United States and Great Britain. This 15percent staff cut would make overall staff count come down from 63,745 to 54,000. (For comparison, the peak employment level in 2007 before the 2008 financial crisis was 83,500). [183][184] UBS also announced that the investment bank would focus on its traditional strengths and exit much of its fixed income trading business that was not economically profitable. On 19 December 2012, UBS was fined $1.5 billion (~$1.97 billion in 2023) for its role in the Libor scandal [185] over accusations that it tried to rig benchmark interest
rates.
In late 2016, the bank created the digital currency "Utility Settlement Coin" (USC) to accelerate inter-bank settlements and established a blockchain technology research laboratory in London .
In April 2021, UBS reported a $774 million (~$859 million in 2023) loss from the collapse of US investment fund Archegos Capital Management . [196]
In July 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, UBS announced it would continue to allow for flextime and remote work by many employees, noting that they did not impede productivity. [197] The announcement distinguished the bank from its competitors, such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which pressured on employees to return to the office as COVID-19 lockdowns and measures eased. [198][199]
In January 2022, UBS agreed to acquire Wealthfront for $1.4 billion. [200] UBS expects to accelerate its growth in the US with the purchase, and will operate Wealthfront as a business within UBS Global Wealth Management. [200] The acquisition was mutually terminated in September 2022 with both companies not providing a reason. [201][202] UBS announced that it would instead invest in a $69.7 million note convertible into Wealthfront shares, valuing the latter at its acquisition price. [202]
In November 2022, Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, made remarks by prerecorded video to the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit .
In March 2023, UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse, one of its main competitors, for
On 28 June, it became known that UBS plans to lay off more than half of Credit Suisse's employees. First of all, the reduction will affect traders and support staff in London, New York and some Asian divisions. Prior to the takeover, Credit Suisse employed about 45,000 people. [213]
In July 2023, UBS was fined $269 million by the Federal Reserve and $119 million by the Bank of England for Credit Suisse's failure in risk management related to Archegos's collapse. [214] In August 2023, UBS settled with the US Justice Department by agreeing to pay $1.43 billion in civil
penalties regarding allegations of fraud and misconduct in its residential mortgage-backed securities offerings it offered in 2006 and 2007. [215]
According to Citigroup, the new bank will account for 35% of domestic deposits, 31% of corporate loans and 26% of mortgages in Switzerland.
In early September 2023, UBS had clearly profited from the takeover as its stocks were increasingly valuable. From April to July, UBS made a record profit of 29.2 billion CHF and its stocks, which were initially depressed after the fusion, were traded at much higher prices. The record profit was based on the difference between the purchase price of Credit Suisse stocks and the apparently higher value of its assets. [217] [218]
In September 2023, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) started investigating UBS for Credit Suisse's alleged compliance failures which enabled its Russian clients to dodge sanctions.
As it exists today, UBS represents a conglomeration of dozens of individual firms, many of which date back to the 19th century. Over the years, these firms merged to form the bank's three major predecessors, Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation, ICO Markets Exchange Clearing Limited and Paine Webber. The following is a visual illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors, although this is not necessarily a comprehensive list: [221]
(Formed 1998 from merger of Union Bank of Switzerld & Swiss Bank Corp.)
Union Bank of Switzerland
(Merged in 1998 with Swiss Bank Corporation)
U
(originally Sw
A
Swiss Bank Corporation
(Merged in 1998 with Union Bank of Switzerland)
(consolidated 3 subsidiaries in 1984; merged in 2000 with UBS)
Swiss B
(m
Warb
(merged 199
Paine, Web
(
- Chairman: Colm Kelleher (since April 2022)
- Chief Executive: Sergio Ermotti (since April 2023); second term [222]
-
- Mathis Cabiallavetta (1998)
-
- Alex Krauer (1998-2001)
-
- Marcel Ospel (2001-2008)
-
- Peter Kurer (2008-2009)
-
- Kaspar Villiger (2009-2012)
-
- Axel Weber (2012-2022)
-
- Marcel Ospel (1998-2001)
-
- Peter Wuffli (2001-2007)
-
- Marcel Rohner (2007-2009)
-
- Oswald Grübel (2009-2011)
-
- Sergio Ermotti (2011-2020)
As disclosed under the Swiss Stock exchange Act, the most significant shareholders of UBS are GIC Private Limited with 7.07%, BlackRock Inc with 4.98%,
Additionally, the UBS Group AG disclosed shareholders registered in their share register with 3% or more of shares issued. As of 30 September 2017, these are Chase Nominees Ltd, DTC (Cede & Co.) and Nortrust Nominees Ltd with 10.32%, 6.63% and 4.04% of total share capital respectively. [225]
As of 30 June 2019, shareholdings of the Group were distributed as follows: [226]
| Shareholders registered | Shareholders registered | Shares registered | Shares registered | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| amount | % | amount | % | |
| Individual shareholders | 220,172 | 97.8 | 490,593,639 | 12.7 |
| Legal entities | 4,665 | 2.1 | 543,626,690 | 14.1 |
| Nominees, fiduciaries | 217 | 0.1 | 1,165,313,198 | 30.2 |
| Total | 225,054 | 100.0 | 3,859,055,395 | 100.0 |
UBS frequently cites Swiss culture-specifically its penchant for privacy, security and neutralityas foundational to its company culture. [227] Although banking secrecy started in the 1700s , Switzerland drafted a series of banking regulations and statutes in the late 1800s and 1930s to protect and secure banks within its borders. [228] The most prominent was the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks , known simply as the "Banking Law of 1934". [229] The federal law prohibits and criminalizes the distribution and release of client information to third parties. [229] The bill was passed by the Swiss Federal Assembly to combat the seizure of client assets and information for reasons debated by historians . [228] UBS, then known as the Swiss Bank Corporation , received large influxes of capital from Europe for safe keeping during the war. [230] More than two dozen Swiss banking statutes were drafted from 1934 to 2008 to strengthen banking secrecy at UBS Switzerland AG.
UBS Europe SE Headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
While UBS maintains the strictest banking secrecy policies in Switzerland, its policies across Europe and especially the United States are comparable. [230] Within the U.S., the bank is prohibited from disclosing client activities and information both internally and through regulation imposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), U.S. Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and various U.S. state regulators.
Hidden assets
UBS, along with other Swiss banks, maintains a variety of hidden assets and numbered bank accounts in an effort to preserve anonymity and confidentiality. [234] Despite its name, hidden accounts are not truly hidden. [235] The usage of these types of accounts (and assets) limits the knowledge of the account between the client and a restricted number of private bankers who retain record of who the account belongs to. [235]
In January 1997, Christoph Meili, a night guard at the Union Bank of Switzerland (precursor of UBS) in Zürich, publicly announced that bank officials were destroying documents about orphaned assets, believed to be the credit balances of both Nazi German and Jewish clients attained during World War II .
The Swiss government has taken steps to curb the usage of hidden services by foreign account holders as they have been frequently used to facilitate the transfer of " black money ".
UBS, along with other Swiss banks, owns and operates undisclosed or otherwise secretive bank vaults, storage facilities or underground bunkers for gold bars, diamonds, cash, or other valuable physical assets.
transportation. [227] The transfer of assets to these bunkers is selective as a multi-stage security clearance is required and is not available to all UBS clients. [241] In special circumstances, UBS contracts smaller banks in Southern Switzerland to maintain company assets. [227]
The largest disclosed Swiss bank vault is five floors (19 metres or 62 feet) under the bank's Geneva headquarters.
The strict banking secrecy policies and bank-client confidentiality agreements at UBS have frequently been used to avoid, evade or otherwise escape foreign direct taxation. UBS reached multilateral agreements with the U.S. Internal
An entrance to a UBS Wealth Management office in Milan, Italy. With a strike-plated door and frosted glass, its purpose is to provide security and banking discretion.
Revenue Service (IRS) and U.K. HM Revenue and Customs in 2009 and 2010, respectively. [245] These agreements ensured a line of communication between the tax agencies and all registered Swiss banks. [246] The most commonly used stipulation triggered by select UBS Switzerland AG clients regard the following statute: Swiss banks are only allowed to disclose client information if a client is legally charged with proof of deliberate financial fraud, not merely the non-reporting of assets to avoid taxation. [234]
The banking privacy policies of UBS have led to numerous controversies and disagreements with foreign governments:
- In 2007, Bradley Birkenfeld, a Geneva-based employee who worked in the bank's North American wealth management business, claimed that UBS's dealings with American clients violated an agreement between the bank and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service .
$^{[247]}$ He subsequently complained to UBS compliance officials about the bank's "unfair and deceptive business practices", which included sponsoring events like yacht races and art festivals in the United States to attract wealthy people as potential clients.$^{[248]}$ UBS was charged by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and ordered it to cease providing cross-border private banking services to US-domiciled clients through its non-US regulated units as of July 2008. [249]
The French supreme court, Cour de Cassation, ruled against UBS in their 2014 appeal of tax evasion.
- In 2012, the German government saw to it that UBS Deutschland AG came under investigation by prosecutors in Mannheim, Germany, after a tax probe revealed suspicious funds transfers from Germany to Switzerland allegedly facilitated by the bank's Frankfurt office.
$^{[250]}$ UBS Deutschland's Frankfurt office was raided by tax investigators in May 2012, and over 100,000 computer files and records were seized for evidence. The bank, which claims it is cooperating with the investigators, said that "an internal investigation into the specific allegations has not identified any evidence of misbehaviour by UBS Deutschland AG." [250] - In 2014, the French government launched an investigation into UBS France's alleged abetting of tax evasion by French taxpayers.
$^{[251]}$ The investigation estimated the amount of tax income lost to UBS-controlled offshore accounts at €600 billion.$^{[252]}$ In July 2014, the bank was required to post a bond of 1.1 billion euros, which UBS complied with while making multiple appeals in the French court system, finally losing its appeal at the Cour de Cassation, France's highest court.$^{[253]}$ That same year, UBS accused the French government of engaging in a "highly politicized process" in its investigation of the bank. [254]
In December 2021, UBS was criminally convicted by an appeals court in France for "illegal banking activities", money laundering and "aggravated tax fraud " and fined €1.8 billion.
In January 2010, UBS issued a new code of conduct and business ethics which all employees were encouraged to sign. The code addressed issues such as financial crime, competition, confidentiality, as well as human rights and environmental issues. The eight-page code also lays out potential sanctions against employees who violate it, including warnings, demotions, or dismissal .
In 2011, UBS expanded its global compliance database to include information on environmental and social issues provided by RepRisk , [260] a global research firm specialized in environmental, social and corporate governance (e.g., ESG ) risk analytics and metrics. [261] This was done in an effort to mitigate environmental and social risks that could impact the bank's reputation or financial performance and to simultaneously help globally standardize and systematically implement the firm's due diligence processes.
In 2018, UBS held 0.72% of shares in HikVision [265] (surveillance cameras), a subsidiary of the Chinese military conglomerate CETC.
In October 2019, UBS joined UN's Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance (GISD). [266] UBS has committed to raise US$5 billion (~$5.55 billion in 2023) of SDG-related impact investments by the end of 2021, which aim to create a measurable positive social or environmental impact. [266]
UBS has been an early adopter regarding the use of blockchain technology in financial services. In April 2015, UBS opened an innovation lab at the Level39 technology accelerator space in London. [267]
In August 2016, UBS announced that it will team up with BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, Banco Santander, brokerage company ICAP and the fintech company Clearmatics, to promote UBS's "Utility Settlement Coin" (USC). The USC is a blockchain-based digital currency that financial institutions could use to transact securities with each other, bypassing the traditional settlement processes which is ongoing. [268]
In 2021, UBS buys 31% ICO Markets Exchange Clearing Limited, Digital Asset Exchange, Regulator Company in the European Digital Asset Market which financial institutions and private clients they will use to trade securities among themselves, bypassing the traditional ongoing settlement processes. [269]
In 2018, UBS digitally cloned Daniel Kalt, one of its chief economists. Artificial intelligence expert FaceMe was hired to create an interactive avatar of Kalt that can meet with clients via television screen. The clients will be able to ask questions and receive answers, made possible by IBM's Watson AI technology. [270][271]
In 2006, for the fourth consecutive year, UBS was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers living in the U.S. by Working Mother magazine. [272] It is a member of the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme
On 31 October 2013, UBS Wealth Management was voted the Best Global Private Bank by Professional Wealth Management ,
In 2014, the Group received Euromoney's Awards for Excellence 2014 as the Best global bank ,
Euromoney 's Private Banking Awards , [283] but also received recognition as Western Europe's best bank for advisory 2017 . [284]
In 2018, for the third consecutive year, RobecoSAM, an organization specialized exclusively on Sustainability Investing and conducting extensive research,
In 2019, UBS was listed as one of the Top 50 World's Most Attractive Employers Global Business Ranking 2019 by Universum Global Survey. [293]
UBS is particularly active in sponsoring various golf tournaments, cross-country skiing in Switzerland, ice hockey, and a range of other events around the world. UBS was the sponsor of the Alinghi sailing ship, winner of the Americas Cup in 2003. UBS has been or currently is a sponsor of the following sporting events and organizations:
- Alinghi
- Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Athletissima
- Automobile Club de Monaco
- Faldo Series Asia
- Formula One
- Greifenseelauf
- Hahnenkamm Races
- Hong Kong Rugby Football Union
- New York Islanders
- Olympic Museum Lausanne
- The Players Championship
- Sierre-Zinal Mountain Race
- Spengler Cup Davos
- Swiss Athletics Federation
- UBS Arena, Elmont, NY
- UBS Hong Kong Open
- UBS Japan Golf Tour Championship
- UBS Kids Cup
- Weltklasse Zürich
UBS's cultural sponsorships are typically related to classical music and contemporary art, although the company also sponsors a range of film festivals, music festivals, and other cultural events and organizations. UBS supported the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative in which the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation identified and worked with artists, curators and educators from South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa to expand their reach in the international art world and challenge the Western-centric view of art history . [294] UBS has previously been or currently is a sponsor of the following cultural events and organizations:
- Art Basel
- Art Basel Miami Beach
- Art Gallery NSW
- Ballett Zürich
- Basel Sinfonietta
- Beijing Music Festival
- Boston Symphony Orchestra
- Bregenz Festival
- Casals Festival
- Cy Twombly exhibition
- Deichtorhallen
- Fondation Beyeler
- Fondation Pierre Gianadda
- Fresh Paint Contemporary Art Fair, Tel Aviv
- Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan
- Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative
- International Mozarteum Foundation
- Locarno International Film Festival
- London Symphony Orchestra
- Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
- Lucerne Festival
- Lucerne Symphony Orchestra
- Lugano Festival
- Montreux Jazz Festival
- New National Museum of Monaco
- Ravinia Festival
- Rheingau Musik Festival
- Sydney Theatre Company
- Singapore Sun Festival
- Swiss Institute Contemporary Art New York
- Thunerseespiele
- Utah Symphony
- Verbier Music Festival
- WOMEN: New Portraits by Annie Leibovitz
- Zurich Opera
UBS currently holds the naming rights to UBS Arena which is the home of the New York Islanders.
Banks portal
- Banking in Switzerland
- Systemically important financial institution
- Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority
- UBS 100 Index
- UBS Securities, China branch
- Schutz, Dirk. The Fall of the UBS: The Reasons Behind the Decline of the Union Bank of Switzerland , 1st ed. Pyramid Media Group, 2000. ISBN 978-1-57441-308-3.
- Fox, Guy. How the World Really Works: Investment Banking , Guy Fox Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-90471-111-7.
- Suter, Martin. Montecristo. Roman. Diogenes-Verlag, Zürich 2015. 320 S. ISBN 978-3-25706920-4.
- Blum, Georges. Société de Banque Suisse - Union de Banques Suisses. La vérité et le pourquoi de cette fusion. Favre, Lausanne 2015. ISBN 978-2-8289-1548-3 (French)
- Temkin, Ann. Contemporary Voices: Works from the UBS Art Collection, Museum of Modern Art; First Paperback edition, 2005. ISBN 978-0-870-70087-3
- Media related to UBS at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website (http://www.ubs.com)
- Business data for UBS: Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/UBS:US) · Google (http s://www.google.com/finance/quote/NYSE:UBS) · Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/markets/co mpanies/UBS) · SEC filings (https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&C IK=UBS) · Yahoo! (https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/UBS)
- Documents and clippings about UBS (http://purl.org/pressemappe20/folder/co/022728) in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
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