Company Overview:
The Swiss financial services corporation UBS operates in over 50 countries as the 2nd largest private wealth asset management firm in the world with over $3 trillion in assets. The firm now provides investment banking, asset and wealth management services for corporate and institutional clients. Since 2003, following the organizational re-branding to the sole UBS name, the company now has over 64,000 personnel and serves as a major player in all major financial markets.
Company Information:
UBS specializes in securities and other financial products, the firm is broken down into UBS Global Asset Management, UBS Wealth Management and UBS Swiss Bank.
Global Asset Management formed after the consolidation of UBS Asset Management, Phillips & Drew (owned by Union Bank of Switzerland) and Brinson Partners (owned by SBC). The branch specializes in equities, fixed income, global diversified portfolios, alternative investments, quantitative investments, real estate, infrastructure and funds for clients, financial intermediaries, investors, and proprietary trading.
Wealth Management is the largest global wealth management firm and works specifically with clients of high net worth by using its underwriting and research departments to provide investment products and services. Currently, the firm employs 27,500 personnel in 44 countries.
Swiss Bank is designed to provide checking, savings, credit card and mortgage products, as well as commercial banking services for small businesses and large clients.
Company Controversies:
Among the controversies incurred by the firm, the most notable scandals involved UBS’s suffering a $2 billion loss after one of its traders was accused of making unauthorized trades with the firm’s money.
Another such controversy involved tax evasion, which involved UBS’s aiding 19,000 accounts from the US ($20 billion in assets) to avoid paying capital gains taxes on its wealth earned. This resulted in UBS’s stopping its private banking services from US clients for offshore accounts.
Additionally, UBS paid $780 million in fines to the US government for impeding the IRS on charges of conspiring to defraud the government.
Notable Personnel:
- Kaspar Villiger, Chairman
- Michel Demaré, Independent Vice Chairman
- David Sidwell
- Rainer-Marc Frey, founder and chairman of Horizon
- Bruno Gehrig, vice-chairman, Roche Holding Ltd
- 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
- Joseph Yam
- Group Chief Executive Officer: Sergio Ermotti, ad interim
- 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 Lofts
- Group Chief Risk Officer: Maureen Miskovic
- CEO Global Asset Management: John A. Fraser
- CEO Investment Bank: Carsten Kengeter
- CEO Wealth Management Americas: Robert J. McCann
- CEO Wealth Management: Jürg Zeltner
- CEO Wealth Management & Swiss Bank: Lukas Gähwiler and Jurg Zeltner (joint)
- CEO UBS Switzerland: Lukas Gähwiler
- Chairman and CEO UBS Group Asia Pacific (APAC): Chi-Won Yoon and Alex Wilmot-Sitwell (joint)
- Chairman and CEO of UBS Group Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA): Sergio Ermotti