UBS AG

UBS AG Logo
Type	Aktiengesellschaft (AG) Public company
Traded as	SIX: UBSN NYSE: UBS
Industry	Banking Financial services
Predecessor(s)	Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation merged in 1998
Founded	1854
Headquarters	Zürich & Basel, Switzerland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Axel A. Weber (Chairman) Sergio Ermotti (CEO)
Products	Investment Banking Investment Management Wealth Management Private Banking Corporate Banking Private Equity Finance and Insurance Consumer Banking Mortgages Credit Cards
Revenue	US$47.529 billion (2010)[1]
Net income	US$8.007 billion (2010)[1]
Total assets	US$1.400 trillion (2010)[1]
Total equity	US$49.765 billion (2010)[1]
Employees	64,617 (2010)[1]
Website	UBS.com

UBS AG (SIX: UBSN, NYSE: UBS) is a Swiss global financial services company headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. It provides investment banking, asset management, and wealth management services for private, corporate, and institutional clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland. UBS was originally an abbreviation for the Union Bank of Switzerland, one of its predecessors; however, UBS ceased to be considered a representational abbreviation after its 1998 merger with Swiss Bank Corporation.^[2] The bank traces its origins to 1854 and the founding of its earliest predecessor banks.

UBS operates in more than 50 countries and has about 65,000 employees globally as of 2012.^[3] It is considered the world's second largest manager of private wealth assets, with over CHF 2.2 trillion in invested assets,^[4][5] a leading provider of retail banking and commercial banking services in Switzerland.

UBS suffered among the largest losses of any European bank during the subprime mortgage crisis and the bank was required to raise large amounts of outside capital. In 2007, the bank received a large capital injection from the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, which remains the bank's largest shareholder.^[6][7] The bank also received capital from the Swiss government^[8] and through a series of equity offerings in 2008 and 2009.

Corporate structure[link]

UBS is a joint-stock company according to Swiss law, headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland, and is listed at the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide, with about 37% of its 64,617 employees working in the Americas, 37% in Switzerland, 16% in the rest of Europe and 10% in Asia Pacific.^[5] It has a major presence in the United States, with its American headquarters located in New York City (Investment banking); Weehawken, New Jersey (Private Wealth Management); and Stamford, Connecticut (Sales & Trading). UBS's global business groups are wealth management, investment banking and asset management. Additionally, UBS is the leading provider of retail banking and commercial banking services in Switzerland, as of 2009. Overall invested assets are 3.265 trillion Swiss francs (CHF), shareholders' equity is 47.850 billion CHF and market capitalization is 151.2 billion CHF by the end of 2Q 2007.

UBS is structured in three client divisions: Investment Banking, Global Asset Management, and Wealth Management. On June 9, 2003, all UBS business groups, including UBS Paine Webber and UBS Warburg, rebranded under the UBS name as the company began operating as a unified global entity.^[9]

UBS Investment Bank[link]

UBS Investment Bank's New York offices at 299 Park Avenue

UBS Investment Bank, a bulge bracket bank, provides securities, other financial products, and research in equities, fixed income, rates, foreign exchange, precious metals and derivatives. Its 15,000 people across over 30 countries^[10] also advise and provide access to capital markets for corporate and institutional clients, governments, financial intermediaries, alternative asset managers and private investors.^[11] UBS Investment Bank was formerly known as UBS Warburg and as Warburg Dillon Read, before the merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC).

Within the UBS Investment Bank, 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 Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities (FICC) (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, commodities, structured products and derivative products).

UBS Investment Bank's offices in Stamford, Connecticut. At roughly the size of two American football fields it is the largest trading floor in the world. Following an expansion in 2002, the trading floor covers 103,000-square-foot (9,600 m²) with 40-foot (12 m) arched ceilings. Over $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 at office space in Midtown and in the rebuilt World Trade Center^[12]

^[13]

Since the early 2000s, UBS Investment Bank has been among the top fee-generating investment banks globally.^[14] For 2010 UBS ranked No.5 globally in mergers & acquisitions advisory, No.5 globally in debt capital markets bookrunning, No.5 globally in follow-on equity offerings, No.3 in European follow-on equity offerings, No.1 in Asia M&A advisory, No.2 in Asian equity capital markets bookrunning, No.2 in Asian follow-on equity offerings, No.2 in Canadian M&A advisory, No.3 in Middle Eastern & African mergers & acquisitions advisory, and No.2 in Middle Eastern & African equity capital markets bookrunning.^[15] UBS also ranked No.1 on the 2010 M&A league tables in Australia, ahead of Macquarie Bank and Goldman Sachs.^[16][17]

UBS Global Asset Management[link]

UBS Global Asset Management offers investment products in equities, fixed income, global diversified portfolios, alternative investments, quantitative investments, real estate, infrastructure and funds of funds for private clients, financial intermediaries, institutional investors and itself via proprietary trading.^[18]

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 as UBS Global Asset Management.^[19]

As of 2010, UBS Asset Management was responsible for more than 569 billion CHF of invested assets. With over 3,500 employees in 25 countries, UBS Global Asset Management is the largest mutual fund manager in Switzerland and the largest fund of hedge funds manager in the world. UBS Global Asset Management has major offices in London, Chicago, Frankfurt, Hartford, Hong Kong, New York, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Zurich.

UBS Wealth Management[link]

UBS's wealth management division offers high net worth individuals 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. 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 order execution and clearing services for transactions originated by individual investors. Until 2009, UBS was considered the largest wealth manager globally.

The business is further divided geographically with separate businesses focused on the U.S. and other international markets. UBS Wealth Management in the U.S. is an outgrowth of the former Paine Webber brokerage business. The business changed its name first to UBS Paine Webber in March 2001 after it was acquired by UBS. The subsidiary further changed its name to UBS Wealth Management USA in June 2003.

UBS Wealth Management employs more than 27,500 personnel in 44 countries. In the United States, UBS Wealth Management employs more than 8,000 financial advisors. UBS also offers traditional Swiss bank services to its non-U.S. clients.

UBS Swiss Bank[link]

In Switzerland, UBS Swiss Bank provides a complete set of retail banking services that include checking, savings, credit card and mortgage products for individuals and cash management and commercial banking services for small businesses and corporate clients.

Competition[link]

On a global scale, UBS competes with the large global investment banks, though it is regularly compared against its fellow Swiss banking giant, Credit Suisse. In Switzerland, UBS competes with a number of cantonal banks such as Zürcher Kantonalbank and Kantonalbank as well as Raiffeisen, PostFinance and Migros Bank.

History[link]

UBS, as it exists today, is the result of the merger of the Union Bank of Switzerland^[20] and the Swiss Bank Corporation^[21] (SBC) in June 1998. Although the merged company's new name was originally supposed to be the "United Bank of Switzerland," officials opted to call it simply "UBS" because of a name clash with United Bank Switzerland - a part of the United Bank Limited's Swiss subsidiary. UBS is no longer an acronym but is the company's brand. Its logo of three keys, carried over from SBC, stands for confidence, security and discretion.^[22] Yet UBS also comprises a number of well-known securities firms that have been acquired by the bank and its predecessors. Among the bank's most notable constituent parts are Paine Webber,^[23] Dillon, Read & Co., Kidder, Peabody & Co., Phillips & Drew, S. G. Warburg & Co., Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co., Jackson & Curtis and Union Securities among others.^[24]

Swiss Bank Corporation[link]

Origins and early years (1854–1945)[link]

UBS, through Swiss Bank Corporation, traces its history to 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.^[24] In 1871, the Bankverein coordinated with the German Frankfurter Bankverein to form the Basler Bankverein, a joint-stock company replacing the original Bankverein consortium. After the new bank started with an initial commitment of 30 million CHF and 6 millions of share capital, it soon experienced growing pains when heavy losses in Germany caused it to suspend its dividend until 1879. Following the years 1985 and 1986, when the bank merged with the Zürcher Bankverein and acquired the Basler Depositenbank and the Schweizerische Unionbank, it changed its name to Schweizerischer Bankverein (SBC).^[24] The English name of the bank was changed to Swiss Bank Corporation in 1917.^[20]

The Basel, Switzerland offices of Swiss Bank Corporation c.1920[25]		1872 Basler Bankverein investor prospectus

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 1 billion CHF in total assets, and grew to 2,000 employees by 1920. The impact of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression would be severe, particularly as the Swiss franc suffered major devaluation in 1936. The bank would see its assets fall from a 1929 peak of 1.6 billion CHF to its 1918 levels of 1 billion CHF by 1936.^[20][24]

In 1937, SBC adopted its three-keys logo, designed by Warja Honegger-Lavater, symbolizing confidence, security and discretion, and which remains an integral part in the current-day logo of UBS.

On the eve of World War II, SBC, like other Swiss banks, was the recipient of large influxes of foreign funds for safekeeping. In 1939, just prior to the outbreak of the war, SBC made the timely decision to open an office in New York City.^[26] The office, located in the Equitable Building, was able to begin operations a few weeks after the outbreak of the war and was intended as a safe place to store assets in the case of an invasion.^[27] During the war, the banks' traditional business fell off and the Swiss government became their largest clients.^[20]

Post-war years (1945–1998)[link]

In 1945, SBC acquired the Basler Handelsbank (Commercial Bank of Basel), which was one of the largest banks in Switzerland but got 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 by the mid-1960s, exceeding CHF 10 billion in 1965.^[24] In 1961, SBC acquired Banque Populaire Valaisanne, Sion, Switzerland and the Banque Populaire de Sierre.^[28] The bank opened a full branch office in Tokyo in 1970.^[24]

Former Swiss Bank Tower off of Fifth Avenue, New York City, opened in 1990.

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.^[29] 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.^[29]

In 1994, SBC acquired Brinson Partners, an asset management firm focused on providing access for U.S. institutions to global markets, for $750 million.^[21] Following the acquisition, founder Gary Brinson ran SBC's asset management business and later when SBC merged with UBS was named chief investment officer of UBS Global Asset Management.^[30]

The acquisition of S.G. Warburg & Co., a leading British investment banking firm, in 1995 for the price of $1.4 billion signified a major push into investment banking. S.G. Warburg had established a reputation as a daring merchant bank that grew to be one of the most respected investment banks in London.^[31] However, an expansion into the U.S. had turned out flawed and costly, and talks in 1994 with Morgan Stanley about a merger had collapsed.^[32] SBC merged the firm with its own existing investment banking unit to create SBC Warburg.^[21][33]

Two years later, in 1997, SBC paid $600 million to acquire Dillon, Read & Co., a U.S. bulge bracket investment bank.^[34][35] Dillon, Read, which traced its roots to the 1830s was among the powerhouse firms on Wall Street in the 1920s and 1930s and by the 1990s had a particularly strong mergers and acquisitions advisory group. Dillon Read had been in negotiations to sell itself to ING, which owned 25% of the firm already, but Dillon Read partners balked at ING's integration plans.^[34] After its acquisition by SBC, Dillon Read was merged with SBC-Warburg to create SBC-Warburg Dillon Read. Following SBC's later merger with Union Bank of Switzerland, the SBC part was dropped from the name, and in 2000 when the new UBS got restructured the Dillon Read name was dropped, although it was brought back in 2005 as Dillon Read Capital Management, UBS's ill-fated hedge fund operations.

Union Bank of Switzerland[link]

Origins and early years (1862–1945)[link]

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 5 million CHF, focused on providing financing for the industry and other companies,^[20][24] and had profited considerably from its close railroad connections and large warehousing facilities during the American Civil War when cotton prices rose dramatically.^[36] The Toggenburger Bank was founded in 1863 with an initial share capital of 1.5 million CHF,^[24] and specialized as a savings and mortgage bank for individual customers, maintaining a branch office network in Eastern Switzerland.^[37][24]

Bank in Winterthur, est. 1862		Toggenburger Bank, est. 1863

The new company 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).^[38] The combined bank had total assets of 202 million CHF and a total shareholders' equity of 46 million CHF.^[24] In 1917, UBS completed the construction of a new headquarters in Zurich on Bahnhofstrasse, considered to be the Wall Street of Switzerland.^[20] By 1923, representations were established throughout Switzerland.^[37] Although the bank suffered in the aftermath of World War I and the Great Depression,^[24] it was able to make several smaller acquisitions,^[37], and in 1937 it established Intrag AG, an asset management business responsible for investment trusts (i.e., mutual funds).^[24]

Activities in World War II[link]

UBS "Gold Key" used to access an account number known only to the bearer.

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.^[39][40][41] The issue of "unclaimed property" of Holocaust victims became a major issue for UBS in the mid-1990s and a series of revelations in 1997 brought the issue to the forefront of national attention in 1996 and 1997.^[42] UBS confirmed that a large number of accounts that had gone unclaimed as a result of the bank's policy of requiring death certificates from family members to claim the contents of the account.^[43][44] UBS's handling of these revelations were largely criticized and the bank received significant negative attention in the U.S.^[45][46] UBS came under significant pressure, particularly from American politicians, to compensate Holocaust survivors who were making claims against the bank.^[47]

In January 1997, Christoph Meili, a night watchman at the Union Bank of Switzerland, found employees shredding archives compiled by a subsidiary that had extensive dealings with Nazi Germany. The shredding was in direct violation of a recent Swiss law adopted in December 1996 protecting such material. UBS acknowledged that it had "made a deplorable mistake", but an internal historian maintained that the destroyed archives were unrelated to the Holocaust.^[48] Criminal proceedings then began against the archivist for possible violation of a recent Federal Document Destruction decree and against Meili for possible violation of bank secrecy, which is a criminal offence in Switzerland. Both proceedings were discontinued by the District Attorney in September 1997.^[49]

Meili was suspended from his job at the security company that served UBS, following a criminal investigation.^[50] Meili and his family left Switzerland for the United States where they were granted political asylum.^[51][52][53]

In 1997, the World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks (WJC) was launched to retrieve deposits made by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II, ultimately resulting in a settlement of $1.25 billion in August 1998.^[39][54][55]

Post-war years (1945–1998)[link]

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 beginning of the 1960s.^[24]

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.^[56] In 1973, the bank increased the stake to full 100% ownership, though the ownership was ultimately sold between 1986 and 1999 to Argor-Heraeus SA^[57][58]). UBS continues to issue gold bars via Argor-Heraeus which is famous for the unique kinebar holographic technology it uses to provide enhanced protection against bank gold bar counterfeiting.^[59]

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.^[24][60] The rapid growth was punctuated by the 1967 acquisition of Interhandel (Industrie- und Handelsbeteiligungen AG, the corporate successor of I.G. Chemie), which made UBS one of the strongest banks in Europe.^[61][37] Interhandel had become cash-rich when a dispute concerning GAF Materials Corporation, a subsidiary formerly known as General Aniline & Film and seized by the U.S. government during the war, was resolved in 1963 and the subsidiary was disposed.^[62][63]

By the 1980s, Union Bank of Switzerland established a position as a leading European underwriter of Eurobonds.^[20] 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.^[64] At the time of the acquisition, the business managed in excess of $30 billion in assets.^[65]

Union Bank of Switzerland entered the 1990s the largest and most conservative of the three large Swiss Banks. The bank's investments had been in the conservative asset management and life insurance businesses; further, 60% of the bank's profits came from its even more conservative Swiss banking operations.^[66] In 1993, Credit Suisse outbid Union Bank of Switzerland for Switzerland's Swiss Volksbank, the fifth largest bank in Switzerland which had run into financial difficulties in the early 1990s.^[60] The acquisition propelled Credit Suisse ahead of Union Bank of Switzerland as the largest bank in Switzerland for the first time. Prior to the merger with Swiss Bank Corporation, UBS purchased a group of smaller Swiss banks in 1994 including the Cantonal Bank of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden in 1996,^[24] and in 1997 Schroder, Munchmeyer, Hengst & Co. from Lloyds Bank was acquired to improve access to the German investment banking and private wealth management markets.^[67]

Merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation[link]

The UBS's principal office at Bahnhofstrasse 45 in Zurich, depicting the new logo, which combines the UBS letters with SBC's "three keys" symbol.

During the mid 1990s, Union Bank of Switzerland came under fire from dissident shareholders critical of its conservative management and lower return on equity.^[68] 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.^[69] 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.^[70] Union Bank of Switzerland's management and board unanimously rebuffed the proposed merger.^[71] Ebner, who supported the idea of a merger, led a shareholder revolt that resulted in the replacement of Union Bank of Switzerland's chairman, Robert Studer with Mathis Cabiallavetta, one of the key architects of the merger with Swiss Bank Corporation.^[20][72]

On December 8, 1997, Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation announced an all stock 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.^[73] Discussions between the two banks had begun several months earlier, less than a year after rebuffing Credit Suisse's merger overtures.^[74]

The merger resulted in the creation of the UBS AG, a huge new bank with total assets of more than US$590 billion.^[75] Also 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 that time, behind only the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.^[75] 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.^[75] The combined entity was originally to be called United Bank of Switzerland, but foreseeing a problem with United Bank Switzerland, opted for UBS.

The merger, which was billed as a merger of equals, resulted in the Union Bank of Switzerland's shareholders receiving 60% of the combined company and Swiss Bank's shareholders receiving the remaining 40% of the bank's common shares. Union Bank of Switzerland's Mathis Cabiallavetta became chairman of the new bank while Swiss Bank's Marcel Ospel was named chief executive officer.^[75] Nearly 80% of the top management positions were filled by legacy Swiss Bank professionals.^[20] Prior to the merger, Swiss Bank Corporation was considered to be further along than Union Bank of Switzerland in developing its international investment banking business, particularly in the higher margin advisory businesses where Warburg Dillon Read was considered to be the more established platform.^[76][77] Union Bank of Switzerland in turn had a stronger retail and commercial banking business in Switzerland, while both banks had strong asset management capabilities.^[75] After the merger was completed, it was speculated that a series of losses suffered by UBS on its equity derivative positions in late 1997 was a contributing factor in pushing UBS management to consummate the merger.^[78][79]

Long Term Capital Management[link]

Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) was a U.S. hedge fund used for trading strategies such as fixed income arbitrage, statistical arbitrage, and pairs trading, combined with high leverage. Its collapse in 1998 led to a bailout by major banks and investment houses, and resulted in massive losses for UBS at a time when it had merged with Swiss Bank Corporation.^[80][81] However, UBS involvement with LTCM pre-dated the merger.

UBS had initially been reluctant to invest in LTCM, rebuffing an investment in 1994 and again shortly thereafter. UBS, suffering criticism of its conservative business model, was looking for ways to catch up to its key Swiss rivals and viewed LTCM as the type of client that could help accelerate the bank's growth. In 1997, UBS entered into a financing arrangement with LTCM, and the hedge fund quickly became the bank's largest client, generating $15 million in fees for UBS.^[82] Union Bank of Switzerland sold LTCM a 7-year European call option on 1 million shares in LTCM, then valued at about $800 million. It hedged this option by purchasing a $800 million interest in LTCM and invested a further $300 million in the hedge fund.^[83] Originally intended to provide UBS with a steady stream of income, UBS instead suffered major losses when the hedge fund collapsed. Following the merger, Swiss Bank managers were surprised to discover the massive exposure to LTCM at UBS.^[82] Ultimately, UBS was unable to sell or hedge its interest in LTCM as its value declined in the summer of 1998.

By November 1998, UBS's losses from its exposure to LTCM were estimated at approximately 790 million CHF.^[84] UBS would prove to be the largest single loser in the LTCM collapse, ultimately writing off 950 million CHF.^[20] The Federal Reserve Bank of New York organized a bailout of $3.625 billion by the hedge fund's major creditors to avoid a wider collapse in the financial markets^[85]. UBS contributed $300 million to the bailout effort, which would largely be recovered.^[86] In the aftermath of the LTCM collapse, Mathis Cabiallavetta resigned as chairman of UBS along with three other executives.^[81]

Following its involvement with LTCM, UBS issued a statement "Given the developments in the international financial markets, in the future UBS will [...] focus even more intensively on those areas of business likely to generate sustainable earnings with a justifiable level of risk."^[81] In the aftermath of the LTCM collapse, Mathis Cabiallavetta resigned as chairman of UBS along with three other executives.^[81]

Rising in the league tables (2000–2007)[link]

On November 3, 2000, UBS merged with Paine Webber, an American stock brokerage and asset management firm led by chairman and CEO Donald Marron.^[87][88][89] At the time of its merger with UBS, Paine Webber had emerged as the fourth largest private client firm in the United States with 385 offices employing 8554 brokers. The acquisition pushed UBS to the top Wealth and Asset Management Firm in the world. Initially the business was given the divisional name "UBS PaineWebber" but in 2003 the 123-year-old name Paine Webber disappeared when it was renamed "UBS Wealth Management USA."^[90] UBS took a CHF 1 billion writedown for the loss of goodwill associated with the retirement of the Paine Webber brand when it integrated its brands under the unified UBS name in 2003.^[91]

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 got renamed UBS Warburg in December 2001.^[92][93] In an attempt to break into the elite bulge bracket of investment banks, in which UBS currently had little success while rival Credit Suisse was establishing itself as a major player on Wall Street with the acquisition of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette in 2000,^[94] Costas shifted the growth strategy from acquiring entire firms to hiring individual investment bankers or teams of bankers from rival firms.^[95] Costas had followed a similar approach in building out the UBS fixed income business, hiring over 500 sales and trading personnel and increasing revenues from US$300 million in 1998 to over US$3 billion by 2001.

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. 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.^[96] Within weeks of joining, Moelis brought over a team of 70 bankers from Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.^[96] Costas and Moelis hired more than 30 senior U.S. bankers from 2001 through 2004.^[92] It was estimated that UBS spent as much as US$600 million to US$700 million hiring top bankers in the U.S. during this three-year period.^[97] Among the bank's other major recruits during this period were Olivier Sarkozy, Ben Lorello,^[98][99] Jeff McDermott^[100] and Blair Effron.

By 2003, UBS had risen to fourth place from seventh in global investment banking fees, earning US$2.1 billion of the US$39 billion paid to investment banks that year, increasing 33%.^[92] Over the next four years, UBS consistently ranked in the top 4 in the global fee pool and established a track record of 20 consecutive quarters of rising profits.^[101]

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.^[102] In 2006, UBS bankers Blair Effron and Michael Martin announced their departures.^[103][104] In March 2007, Moelis announced that he was leaving the company,^[101] and shortly thereafter founded a new business, Moelis & Company. As he had when joining UBS, Moelis took a large team of senior UBS investment bankers.^{[105][106][107]} Moelis's departure was caused primarily by repeated conflict over the availability of capital from the bank's balance sheet to pursue large transactions, particularly leveraged buyouts.^[108] The bank's apparent conservatism would be turned on its head when large losses were reported in various mortgage securities rather than corporate loans that generated investment banking fees. After Moelis, other notable departures included investment banking co-head Jeff McDermott in early 2007^[104] and, as the financial crisis set in, other high profile bankers such as Oliver Sarkozy^[109] in early 2008 and Ben Lorello in 2009.^[99]

The Subprime mortgage crisis (2007)[link]

In early 2007, UBS became the first Wall Street firm to announce heavy losses in the subprime mortgage sector as the subprime mortgage crisis began to unfold. In May 2007, UBS announced the closure of its Dillon Read Capital Management division, which was responsible for many of the bank's early mortgage losses. Before that time, there was little understanding of the troubles at DRCM or the massive expansion of risk engineered by the investment banking division..^[110]

DRCM, which was a large internal hedge fund, had been started to much publicity in 2005 and invested money both on behalf of UBS and some of its clients. However, DRCM had been formed in large part to keep some of the bank's traders from defecting to hedge funds as well as to create a position for John Costas who had been instrumental in creating UBS's successful investment banking business in the U.S. from 2001-2005.^[102] Costas had been replaced by Huw Jenkins, a long-time legacy UBS investment banker with little fixed income or mortgage experience. DRCM hired a large team of professionals, many of whom were attracted from the investment bank with large compensation packages.^[111] Although in 2006, DCRM had generated a profit for the bank of $720 million, after UBS took over DRCM's positions in May 2007 and removed hedges allowing losses to grow from the $124 million recorded by DRCM , ultimately to "16% of the $19 billion in losses UBS recorded." The UBS investment bank continued to expand sub prime risk in the second quarter of 2007 while most market participants were reducing risk resulting in not only expanding DRCM losses but creating the 84% of the other losses experienced by the bank. ^[112] By October 2007, UBS was indicating that the assets could not be sold given the illiquidity in the market.". ^[113][114]

In response to the growing series of problems at UBS, Peter Wuffli unexpectedly stepped down as CEO of the firm during the second quarter of 2007.^[115] Wuffli would be joined by many of his fellow managers in the next year, most notably the bank's chairman Marcel Ospel. However, the bank's problems continued through the end of 2007, when the bank reported its first quarterly loss in over five years.^[116] As its losses jeopardized the bank's capital position, UBS quickly raised $11.5 billion of capital in December 2007, $9.7 billion of which came from the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and $1.8 billion from an unnamed Middle Eastern investor.^[117] Those 2007 capital injections would initially be highly unpopular among UBS shareholders who clamored to have an opportunity to participate on the same terms.^[118] However, over time, these early investments in UBS proved to be unsuccessful for the investors involved as the bank's stock price remained below 2007 levels more than two years later.^[119]

Impact of the financial crisis (2008–2009)[link]

After a significant expansion of fixed income risk under the leadership of Huw Jenkins, UBS Investment Bank CEO, during 2006 and 2007 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. ( Huw had been asked to leave in October 2007. 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.^[120] In response to its losses, UBS announced a 15 billion CHF rights offering to raise the additional funds need to shore up its depleted reserves of capital. UBS cut its dividend in order 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.^[121][122] Marcel Ospel, who had been the architect of the merger that created UBS in 1998, also announced that he would step down as chairman of the bank to be replaced by Peter Kurer, the bank’s general counsel with virtually no banking experience. This ultimately proved very costly to UBS.

In October 2008, UBS announced that it had placed CHF 6 billion of new capital, through mandatory convertible notes, with Swiss Confederation. The SNB (Swiss National Bank) and UBS made an agreement to transfer approximately US$60 billion of currently illiquid securities and various assets from UBS to a separate fund entity.^[123] UBS raised an additional US$11.5 billion of capital in December 2007, US$9.7 billion of which came from the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and US$1.8 billion from an unnamed Middle Eastern investor. In November 2008, UBS put US$6 billion 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.^[124]

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.^[125] Since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007, UBS has written down more than US$50 billion from subprime mortgage investments^[126] and cut more than 11,000 jobs.^[127]

U.S. tax evasion controversy[link]

In June 2008, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation made a formal request to travel to Switzerland to probe a multi-million-dollar tax evasion case involving UBS.^[128] The investigation had, in part, been prompted by disclosures made by Brad Birkenfeld, a former UBS banker in Switzerland, who testified to the US Department of Justice, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and the US Internal Revenue Service.^[129] In July 2008, a United States Senate panel accused Swiss banks, including UBS and LGT Group, of helping wealthy Americans evade taxes through offshore accounts, and calculated the total cost of this practice as being in excess of $100 billion annually.^[130] The report specifically accused UBS AG and Liechtenstein's LGT Group of allegedly marketing tax-evasion strategies to wealthy Americans.^[131] U.S. clients held about 19,000 accounts at UBS, with an estimated US$18 billion to US$20 billion in assets, in Switzerland, according to the findings.^[132] In response to the report and the FBI investigation, UBS announced that it would cease providing cross-border private banking services to US-domiciled clients through its non-US regulated units as of July 2008.^[133] In November 2008, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted Raoul Weil, Chairman and CEO of UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking and member of UBS's Group Executive Board, in connection with the ongoing investigation of UBS's US cross-border business.^[134] UBS would eventually cut ties to Raoul Weil in May 2009 and he would face charges after UBS had settled its criminal case with the government.^[135]

UBS agreed on February 18, 2009 to pay a fine of US$780 million to the U.S. government and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the Internal Revenue Service. Of the US$780 million that UBS will pay, US$380 million represents disgorgement of profits from its cross-border business; the balance represents United States taxes that UBS failed to withhold on the accounts.^[136][137] The figures include interest, penalties and restitution for unpaid taxes. As part of the deal, UBS also settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges of having acted as an unregistered broker-dealer and investment adviser for Americans.^[138]

The day after settling its criminal case on February 19, 2009, the U.S. government filed a civil suit against UBS to reveal the names of all 52,000 American customers, alleging that the bank and these customers conspired to defraud the IRS and federal government of legitimately owed tax revenue.^[139] The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) had given the United States government the identities of, and account information for, certain United States customers of UBS’s cross-border business as part of its criminal investigation in 2009. On August 12, 2009, UBS announced a settlement deal that ended its litigation with the IRS.^[140][141] However, this settlement set up a showdown between the U.S. and Swiss governments over the secrecy of Swiss bank accounts. It was not until June 2010 that Swiss lawmakers approved a deal to reveal client data and account details of U.S. clients who were suspected of tax evasion.^[142]

Re-establishment (2009–current)[link]

UBS Investment Bank lobby at 299 Park Ave in New York

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.^[143] At the same time, UBS announced the planned elimination of 8,700 jobs^[144] 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 held in reserve and stock-based incentives that would vest after three years; top executives would have to hold 75% of any vested shares. Additionally, the bank's chairman, Peter Kurer, would no longer receive any extra variable compensation, only a cash salary and a fixed allotment of shares that could not be sold for four years. Also, in April 2009, UBS announced that it has agreed to sell its Brazilian financial services business, UBS Pactual, for approximately US$2.5 billion to BTG Investments.^[145] UBS rejected proposals to break apart the bank and divest its investment banking division^[146].

By the summer of 2009, UBS was showing increased signs of stabilization. Taking advantage of conditions in the stock market, UBS placed US$3.5 billion of shares with a small number of large institutional investors. 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.^[147] Oswald Grübel announced, “We are building a new UBS, one that performs to the highest standards and behaves with integrity and honesty; one that distinguishes itself not only through the clarity and reliability of the advice and services it provides but in how it manages and executes." Grübel reiterated plans to maintain an integrated business model of providing wealth management, investment banking and asset management services.^[148]

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.

On October 26, 2010, UBS announced that its private bank recorded net new funds of CHF 900 million during the third quarter, compared to outflow of CHF 5.5 billion in second quarter.^[149] UBS's third quarter net profit of US$1.65 billion beat analyst estimates, continuing a string of profitability.

After the elimination of almost 5,000 jobs, UBS announced on August 23, 2011 that it was further eliminating another 3,500 positions in order to "improve operating efficiency" and save CHF 1.5 to CHF 2 billion a year. 45 percent of the job cuts will come from the investment banking unit, which has continued to post dismal figures since the 2008 financial crisis, while the rest would come from the wealth management and asset management divisions. The firm has seen profits fall due to the rise of the Swiss franc.^[150][151]

2011 rogue trader scandal[link]

On 15 September 2011, UBS became aware of a massive loss, originally estimated at US$2 billion, due to unauthorized trading allegedly by Kweku Adoboli, a then 31-year-old trader on the Delta One desk of the firm’s investment bank.^[152] Adoboli was arrested and later charged with fraud by abuse of position and false accounting dating as far back as 2008.^[153] UBS's actual losses were subsequently confirmed as US$2.3 billion.^[154]

The bank stated that no client positions had been affected^[155] and its CEO Oswald Gruebel initially dismissed calls for his resignation, commenting that “if someone acts with criminal intent, you can’t do anything.”^[156] However, UBS's management was subsequently criticized for its "lapses" by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, the bank's largest shareholder, in a rare press statement on 20 September 2011;^[157] and on 24 September 2011 UBS announced Grübel's resignation, with Sergio Ermotti named Group CEO on an interim basis.^[158] On 5 October 2011, Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara, co-heads of UBS's Global Equities franchise, also resigned.^[159]

The scale of UBS's losses led to renewed calls for the global separation of commercial banking from investment banking^[160] while media commentators suggested UBS should consider downsizing its investment bank and potentially rebranding it under the resurrected S.G. Warburg name.^[161][162]

In Switzerland, where the Government had bailed out UBS in 2008^[163] particular concern was voiced about the nature of the alleged trading which, it was suggested, might have been directed against the interests of the Swiss economy. Christian Levrat, President of the SP-Party said, "Should it prove true that UBS, having been rescued by the state in 2008, has speculated against the Swiss franc, [UBS Chairman] Villiger must take the consequences."^[164]

If found guilty, Abodoli will have generated the third-largest loss by a rogue trader in history, after Jerome Kerviel of Société Générale (who also worked on a Delta One desk) and Yasuo Hamanaka, a copper trader at Sumitomo Corporation.^[165]

Acquisition history[link]

UBS as it exists today represents the combination of dozens of individual firms, many of which date 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 and Paine Webber. The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors, although this is not necessarily a comprehensive list:^[166]

UBS (merged 1998)

Union Bank of Switzerland Union Bank of Switzerland Union Bank of Switzerland (originally Swiss Banking Association, merged 1912) Bank in Winterthur (est. 1862) Toggenburger Bank (est. 1863) Aargauische Kreditanstalt (merged 1915, acq. 1919) Aargauische Kreditanstalt (est. 1872) Bank in Baden (est. 1863) Eidgenössische Bank (est. 1863, acq. 1945) Interhandel (est. 1928, acq. 1967) Phillips & Drew (est. 1895 as G.A. Phillips & Co., acq. 1986) Chase Investors Management Corporation (est. 1972 as subsidiary Schroder, Munchmeyer, Hengst & Co. (merged 1969, acq. 1997) Schröder Brothers & Co. (est. 1846) Münchmeyer & Co. (est. 1855) Frederick Hengst & Co. Swiss Bank Corporation Swiss Bank Corporation Swiss Bank Corporation (merged 1897) Basler & Zürcher Bankverein (est. 1880) Basler Banvkerein (est. 1856 as Bankverein, renamed in 1872) Zürcher Bankverein (est. 1889) Basler Depositenbank (est. 1882) Schweiz Unionbank (est. 1889) Basler Handelsbank (est. 1862, acq. 1945) O'Connor & Associates (est. 1977, acq. 1992) Brinson Partners (est. 1989, acq. 1994) Warburg Dillon Read (merged 1997 under SBC ownership) S. G. Warburg & Co. (est. 1946, acq. 1995) Dillon, Read & Co. (est. 1832, acq. 1997) Paine Webber (consolidated three subsidiaries in 1984) Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis (merged 1942) Paine & Webber (est. 1880) Jackson & Curtis (est. 1879) Mitchell Hutchins (est. 1938, acq. 1975) Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co. (merged 1972, acq. 1979) Blyth & Co. (est. 1914 as Blyth, Witter & Co. Eastman Dillon Union Securities & Co. (merged 1956) Union Securities (est. 1939 as spin-off from J. & W. Seligman & Co. Eastman Dillon & Co. (est. 1912) Kidder, Peabody & Co. (est. 1864, acq. 1995) J.C. Bradford & Co. (est. 1928, acq. 2000)

Management[link]

Board of Directors[link]

The Board of Directors is the most senior corporate body with ultimate responsibility for the strategy and the management of the company and for the appointment and supervision of its executive management.^[167] Its members, as of 3 May, 2012, are:^[168]

• Axel A. Weber, Chairman
• Michel Demaré, Vice Chairman
• David Sidwell, Senior Independent Director
• Rainer-Marc Frey, founder and chairman of Horizon21
• Ann Godbehere
• Axel P. Lehmann, Group Chief Risk Officer of Zurich Financial Services
• Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman and CEO of Lufthansa
• Helmut Panke
• William G. Parrett
• Isabell Romy, partner, Niederer Kraft & Frey^[169]
• Beatrice Weder di Mauro, former member German Council of Economic Experts
• Joseph Yam

Chairman Marcel Ospel did not seek re-election at the April 23, 2008 annual general meeting of shareholders and was succeeded by Peter Kurer, who was general counsel.^[170] On April 15, 2009, Peter Kurer was succeeded by Kaspar Villiger. Former Bundesbank president Axel A. Weber was nominated for election to the board at the annual meeting 3 May 2012 in mid-2011 and, at that time, intended to be named chairman of the board after Villiger's retirement in 2013.^[171][172] In May, 2012, Villiger and board member Bruno Gehrig stepped down.^[168]

Group Executive Board[link]

The Group Executive Board is the executive body of the company, the members of which are:

• Group Chief Executive Officer: Sergio Ermotti
• Group Chief Operating Officer & CEO Corporate Center: Ulrich Körner
• Group Chief Financial Officer: Tom Naratil
• Group General Counsel: Markus U. Diethelm
• Group Chief Risk Officer: Philip J. Lofts
• CEO Global Asset Management: John A. Fraser
• CEO Investment Bank: Carsten Kengeter
• CEO Wealth Management Americas: Robert J. McCann
• CEO Wealth Management: Jurg Zeltner
• CEO Wealth Management & Swiss Bank: Lukas Gähwiler^[173] and Jurg Zeltner (joint)
• CEO UBS Switzerland: Lukas Gähwiler^[173]
• CEO UBS Group Americas: Robert J. McCann
• Chairman and CEO UBS Group Asia Pacific (APAC): Chi-Won Yoon^[174] and Alex Wilmot-Sitwell (joint)
• Chairman and CEO of UBS Group Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA): Ulrich Körner

With Oswald Grübel's resignation as CEO and Ermotti's interim appointment in his place 24 September 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported that the succession process appeared to be a two-person race between Ermotti from EMEA and Kengeter from the investment bank. Ermotti, who had spent many years at what is now Bank of America Merrill Lynch, joined UBS in April; Kengeter is a German national who joined UBS from Goldman Sachs in 2008 and who had reportedly disagreed with some UBS investment bankers over pay and other matters; the Journal also said.^[175]

Previously, on 26 February 2009, Marcel Rohner resigned and was succeeded by Grübel.^[176] On 1 April 2009, Grübel hired Ulrich Körner, in a newly established role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and CEO of Corporate Center. Körner's task was to be to cut administrative expenses and boost profits.^[177]

Legal controversies[link]

On May 10, 2004, UBS was fined $100 million by the U.S. Federal Reserve for illegally transferring funds from an account set up by the Federal Reserve at UBS to Iran, Cuba and other countries presently under a U.S. trade embargo.^[178]

In April 2005, UBS lost the landmark discrimination and sexual harassment case, Zubulake v. UBS Warburg. The plaintiff, Laura Zubulake, was former institutional equities salesperson at the company's Stamford office. The jury found that her manager, Matthew Chapin, had denied her important accounts and mocked her appearance to co-workers. She claimed several sexist policies in place, such as entertaining clients at strip clubs, made it difficult for women to socialize and foster business contacts with clients.^[179] The jury found that UBS had destroyed relevant e-mail evidence after the litigation hold had been in place. UBS was ordered to pay the plaintiff $9.1 million in compensatory damages (including back pay and professional damage), and $20.2 million in punitive damages.^[180]

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) alleged that UBS had played a role in the 2004 Black Monday stock market crash which followed the National Democratic Alliance government’s defeat in the general elections. SEBI's ruling of May 17, 2005 barred UBS from issuing or renewing participatory notes for a period of one year.The ban was later lifted on appeal, as a result of a government tribunal ruling on September 9, 2005.

On October 18, 2005, three African-American employees filed a class action lawsuit against the company in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging racial discrimination in hiring, promotion and other employment practices. The three plaintiffs in Freddie H. Cook, Sylvester L. Flaming Jr. and Timothy J. Gandy v. UBS Financial Services, Inc., claim that segregation and discrimination in job assignments and compensation were widespread and the firm had done nothing to diversify its workforce. The lawsuit also claims offices operating in Largo, Maryland and Flushing, New York were illegally created to serve African-Americans and Asian-Americans respectively, and that the firm’s management frequently ridiculed the Largo branch office and its staff, referring to it as a “diversity” office. On April 23, 2007, U.S. District Judge, Peter J. Messitte, granted plaintiff's request to dismiss the class allegations without prejudice. As a result of this dismissal, the case now comprises the individual claims of three plaintiffs.^[181][182]

Corporate social responsibility[link]

In January 2010, UBS issued a new code of conduct and business ethics which all employees were asked 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. According to Kaspar Villiger, Chairman of the Board, and Oswald J. Grübel, former Group CEO, the code is "an integral part of changing the way UBS conducts business".^[183]

Recognition[link]

UBS was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers living in the U.S. in 2006 for the fourth consecutive year^[184] by U.S. based Working Mother magazine. It is a member of the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme and has active Gay and Lesbian, ethnic minority, and women's networking groups. UBS was included on Business Week's The Best Places to Launch a Career 2008, and ranked #96 out of the 119 total companies listed.^[185]

On February 2, 2010, UBS topped the charts for the ninth year in a row in Institutional Investor's annual ranking of developed Europe's most highly regarded equity analysts. In a year of extremes for the equity markets, money managers say that no firm did a better job than UBS of keeping them informed about which European sectors, countries and industries offered the greatest potential.^[186]

On May 4, 2010, UBS Investment Bank was voted the Leading Pan-European Brokerage firm for Equity and Equity Linked Research for a record tenth successive year. The Thomson Reuters Extel Survey ranked UBS number one in all three of the key disciplines of research: Research (tenth year); Sales (ninth year running) and Equity Trading and Execution (up from second place in 2009). This year UBS was also named as the number one Leading Pan-European Brokerage Firm for Economics and Strategy research.^[187]

Sponsorship[link]

Sport[link]

UBS has been or is currently a sponsor of the following sporting events and organizations. 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.

Culture[link]

UBS has been or is currently a sponsor of the following cultural events and organizations. Typically UBS's cultural sponsorships are related to classical music and contemporary art although the firm also sponsors a range of film festivals, music festivals and other engagements.

References[link]