UBS Overview: UBS (formerly Union Bank of Switzerland) has significant operations in the U.S., headquartered in New York, NY and Stamford, CT. The latter location boasts the world’s largest trading floor. The UBS of today is a successor company to these venerable securities firms:
- PaineWebber
- Kidder, Peabody
- Dillon, Read
- S.G. Warburg
While its retail and commercial banking operations are centered in Switzerland, the activities of UBS in the U.S. are in these fields:
- Wealth Management
- Investment Management
- Investment Banking
Size: UBS reported these figures for its U.S. Wealth Management division as of September 30, 2008. Currency conversions are made using the exchange rate of $1.12 to the Swiss Franc (CHF) that existed on that date.
- Financial Advisors = 7,982
- Total Employees = 19,172
- Client Assets = CHF 981 billion ($1.1 trillion)
Global figures for Asset Management and Investment Banking were:
- Asset Management Employees = 3,836
- Invested Assets = CHF 708 billion ($793 billion)
- Investment Banking Employees = 18,901
- Investment Banking YTD 9/08 Pretax Loss = CHF 26.2 billion ($29.3 billion)
- Investment Banking 2007 Pretax Loss = CHF 16.7 billion ($18.7 billion)
Total U.S. citizens employed by UBS are just over 19,000.
Positives: UBS is a global banking, asset management and securities giant, with over 80,000 worldwide employees and operations in 50 countries. UBS boasts the fourth-largest contingent of financial advisors in the U.S.
Negatives: Federal regulators are investigating UBS, alleging that the firm has systematically aided U.S. clients with tax evasion through cross-border asset transfers. On November 12, 2008, the CEO of UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking was indicted by a federal grand jury, and resigned his position. In cooperation with U.S. authorities, UBS has suspended cross-border asset transfers for U.S.-based clients.
UBS has been in a great deal of turmoil in 2007-08, with profits in its other divisions swamped by huge losses in investment banking, traceable to fixed income trading, specifically in mortgage-backed securities. This forced the ouster of its corporate CEO in April, 2008.
Additionally, UBS has announced cutbacks in investment banking, including the reduction of about 2,000 employees, bringing total employment in the division down by 6,000 (26%) from its 3Q 2007 peak. There have been indications that UBS would sell its U.S. Wealth Management division, but these plans are officially scrapped, at least for now.
